Cautious welcome for plan to stop witch-hunt of veterans
NEW laws are being planned to end “the absolute tragedy” of veterans being chased through the courts over their military service, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said yesterday.
The deal is intended to protect service personnel in past, present and future conflicts and save them “fearing a knock on their door”.
It is understood that moves under consideration include strengthening the presumption of innocence and raising the bar for prosecution.
A Statute of Limitations – or time limit for prosecutions – appears to have been ruled out on legal advice.
But if cases are brought, under the new system service personnel and veterans would get more support from the military.
Mr Williamson’s comments were cautiously welcomed by veterans.
His words come after the Daily Express launched our Betrayal Of Our Veterans campaign in an attempt to end the witch-hunt against service personnel being investigated over incidents, some of which date back nearly 50 years.
Speaking about the current crop
of investigations, particularly in Northern Ireland, the Defence Secretary said: “I know in my heart and soul that it is fundamentally so incredibly wrong that we continue to have so many ex-servicemen who continue to be in the situation where they are facing persecution.”
Four British veterans are facing trial over incidents dating back as far as 1972, despite having been cleared at the time.
One, Dennis Hutchings, 77, a
former Corporal Major in the Life Guards, was seized by police at his home in Cornwall and hauled to Belfast where he was interrogated 26 times over the course of 80 hours.
Terrorists
Another 278 cases involving Northern Ireland veterans are understood to be under investigation.
In contrast, under Tony Blair’s 1998 Good Friday Agreement, more
than 500 terrorists were released early and 300 suspects received “onthe-run” letters, telling them they would not be pursued.
The Northern Ireland Office has closed a consultation on how to tackle so-called “legacy killings”, with its findings due in the new year.
Colonel Richard Kemp, who completed several tours of Northern Ireland, said: “There will be a way for the Government to protect soldiers from these witch-hunts
which have been going over Afghanistan, Iraq and Northern Ireland.
“Soldiers should be protected from these politically-motivated cases. Lawyers are at fault for pursuing these cases but they would not have been able to do so if the Government had not allowed it.
“There is also a lack of understanding among politicians and lawyers of what fighting a war is like and how the laws of armed conflict should be applied.”