Ex-Para ends hunger strike after mental healthcare vow
There were cheers and tears as Mr Hales announced to a crowd of 400 supporters: “I have been given assurances and I feel it would be silly to continue so I will be standing down.”
His declaration was greeted with three cheers followed by “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow”.
Gus embraced his former Army nurse wife Angela, 61, who has stood by him during his ordeal before being hugged by a procession of well-wishers.
He slumped into a camping chair before breaking his fast by drinking two cups of rice milk and was later able to eat just “soup and baby food” after so long without solids.
Gus – a sergeant who served with 9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers – began his action on October 29 outside the Audley Court Combat Stress centre in Newport, Shropshire.
He had received treatment for PTSD at the centre for many years but his support was axed abruptly in 2015.
Last November the veterans’ charity confirmed it was dropping residential treatment at the centre which had 29 beds. Gus drinks rice milk after 14 days without solids The centre was one of three run by the charity but NHS England has cut £3.2million in funding.
Combat Stress admitted it fell “well short of accepted practice” in Gus’s case. It issued an “unreserved” apology and pledged a review “to identify if any other veterans have been improperly discharged”.
Gus – who has also raised concerns about prosecutions brought against those who served in Northern Ireland – is calling for a full independent inquiry into “systemic failings”.
Campaigners say more than 150 ex-Forces personnel have come forward. Earlier yesterday Gus walked up to the bolted front doors of the centre and laid a wreath with the words “For those that cried out for help that were never heard”.