Iraq veterans left traumatised as compensation investigators pursue families
Bogus claimants and tank-chasing lawyers are fuelling probes into soldiers' conduct
THE legal witch-hunt against brave Iraq veterans has left one hero so traumatised he is refusing to leave his own house, it emerged today.
Others feel they have been “hung out to dry” by a lack of support from the Ministry of Defence as they are pursued by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team.
MPs heard investigators are turning up on family doorsteps and at barracks gates demanding information or threatening arrest.
In one harrowing incident they appeared at an ex-girlfriend’s house and interviewed her on whether her former partner had tattoos, was abusive or talked in his sleep.
In another they turned up at a barracks and threatened to arrest an officer despite the fact he was acquitted by an internal probe 10 years before.
Even witnesses have been threatened with arrest as the six-year probe into alleged Iraq War wrongdoing has got “completely out of hand”.
It is the latest set of scandalous revelations about IHAT, which has ballooned out of control as taxpayers’ cash has been used to launch more than 1,500 compensation claims on behalf of alleged victims of mistreatment – including bogus allegations by tank-chasing lawyers.
The probe, which has already handed out more than £22 million in compensation and whose overall bill has spiralled beyond £57 million, is being investigated by a sub-committee of the Commons Defence Committee.
Witnesses today told the MPs the promise of compensation is “fuelling” hundreds of bogus claims by Iraqis who get British legal aid to bring their claims – while UK troops are forced to pay to defend themselves.
One Sergeant Major has been left £7,000 out of pocket as a result.
Asked to spell out the impact on brave forces being pursued by IHAT, solicitor Hilary Meredith told MPs: “Those I have spoken to, their lives are on hold. They feel hung out to dry by the military, by the lack of support.
“Many of them have suffered from mental stress or possibly PTSD as a result of service that has been highlighted as a result.
“One person refuses to leave his house and has lost all faith in anyone outside his home just as a result of a lack of support.”
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Fellow solicitor Lewis Cherry told the MPs that 13 servicemen and women are facing charges “for acting in line with their training” – but are still being forced to pay their own way.
He also said he doubted it was “lawful” for investigators to turn up and threaten witnesses with arrest.
And Rev Nick Mercer, the Army’s chief legal adviser in Iraq in 2003, said 70 per cent of claims could be axed straight away because they related to prisoner handling – which would leave only shooting incidents.
He said: “This is an own goal we have walked right in to and I think we could design it out very easily.”
After the hearing, Tory sub-committee chairman and ex-Army captain told The Sun: “We are paying legal aid to make these claims and our blokes who they are made against have to pay their own way.
“The whole thing is a shambles and the people who are suffering is our boys and girls.”
David Cameron has stepped in to curb the farce of soldiers being hounded by disgraced law firms who find Iraqis to make claims, but has refused to shut IHAT down.
Bogus allegations that have been brought include lawyers trying to pin the death of an Iraqi on British soldiers 11 years after Danish forces accepted responsibility, and a claim a girl had been killed by a cluster bomb when it was actually a boy.