Army heroes’ fury after tank-chasing lawyer Phil Shiner swerves jail amid bogus war crimes scandal

ARMY heroes are furious after tank-chasing lawyer Phil Shiner swerved jail.

The disgraced solicitor used public funds to accuse troops of bogus Iraq war crimes.

But Shiner hid the fact he paid middle-men to cold call so-called victims, who cooked up claims of torture and murder by Brit forces.

Shiner’s now defunct firm Public Interest Lawyers took more than £3million of legal aid.

In October he admitted three frauds relating to £200,000 in legal aid which he illegally used to accuse troops of abuse in 2004.

At Southwark crown court yesterday Shiner, 67, of Birmingham, got two years in jail, suspended.

Ex-Royal Engineer Major Robert Campbell, 51, who served in Iraq, was outraged. He said: “This is a man who tortured me and others. He should have gone to jail.”

Former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer branded Shiner a ­“modern-day traitor”. He said: “He destroyed the lives of some of our finest veterans, aided and abetted by an inept Ministry of Defence and pathetic senior officers.”

And ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace fumed: “The sentence is an insult to our veterans.”

The case was brought by the National Crime Agency almost eight years after Shiner was struck off.

It focused on £200,000 he used to accuse troops of abuse following a 2004 battle.

The subsequent five-year inquiry, which cost £31million, concluded Shiner’s clients told “deliberate lies”.