Tank-chasing lawyer Phil Shiner admits using a fixer to smear Brit troops and trying to cover it up
The self-styled Human Rights lawyer who ran defunct firm Public Interest Lawyers now accepts he must be struck off over his actions
TANK chasing lawyer Phil Shiner has admitted paying a fixer to find Iraqis willing to smear British heroes - then trying to cover it up.
In a humiliating retreat, Shiner finally confessed to a host of misconduct charges including acting “without integrity”, ahead of a disciplinary hearing.
The self-styled Human Rights lawyer who ran defunct firm Public Interest Lawyers now accepts he must be struck off over his actions.
Shiner came clean on the eve of a hearing at London’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal yesterday which will hold a two week hearing into yet more misconduct allegations in January.
Andrew Tabachnik, putting the case against Mr Shiner for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said: “Even on the basis of his own admissions, Professor Shiner accepts this tribunal must strike him off at the end of this case.”
In a bombshell letter sent to the SRA on Wednesday Shiner admitted nine allegations of acting “without integrity”, one charge of acting recklessly, plus allegations of professional misconduct.
Crucially, Shiner confessed to making “unsolicited direct approaches” to potential clients through a fixer, identified in documents as Z but understood to be Iraqi middleman Abu Jamal.
Drumming up business is prohibited under the solicitor’s code of conduct.
Shiner then admitted authorising “financial benefits” to Jamal to “persuade him to change his evidence” into how clients had been found.
He also admitted sanctioning emails to the SRA which covered up the true nature of the dodgy deal with Jamal.
The lawyer also admitted approving payments and fee-sharing deals with the agent between 2007 and 2010 including one for £25,000 on 30 March 2009.
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Shiner also admitted acting recklessly when he “personally endorsed allegations that the British Army had unlawfully killed, tortured and mistreated Iraqi civilians.”
A two week trial will go ahead in January after Shiner denied six charges including acting dishonestly and misleading a Judicial Review and the Legal Services Commission.
All the allegations centre around the collapsed Al Sweady Inquiry into alleged war crimes by British soldiers in Iraq.
The £31m inquiry finished in 2014 and concluded the vile slurs levelled at British troops were based on “deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility”.
Mr Tabachnik said Shiner was yet to outline his defence to the charges he denies or admitted in part, saying: “In particular, those relating to dealing with one particular individual who it’s now accepted sweeteners were offered in order for evidence to be changed.”
The wrap sheet detailing 24 charges was only made public after an anonymity order demanded by Shiner over his poor health was fully lifted.
Shiner – who did not attend yesterday’s hearing - raked in millions in legal aid cash to bring hundreds of claims against British troops over alleged war crimes.
His tidal wave of allegations in part triggered the hated Iraq Historic Allegations Team witch hunt.
But after the collapse of the Al Sweady Inquiry the MoD complained, sparking the SRA probe which has so far cost over £476k to investigate.
PIL closed down in August this year after being stripped of legal aid funding for breaching contractual requirements.
After the collapse of his Birmingham based firm, Shiner now faces representing himself in court due to his “depleted resources.”
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, said: “Phil Shiner made the lives of soldiers a misery by pursing false allegations of torture and murder.
“It was on behalf of those soldiers that we complained about Mr Shiner’s actions and finally he has admitted he was reckless and acted without integrity.
“He should now apologise to the soldiers whose reputations he attempted to traduce.”
A second lawyer, John Dickinson, who worked with Shiner denies a single charge.