Heroes betrayed

THE headline ‘ Fury over the MoD cowards’, in reference to the Sgt Alexander Blackman case, confirms again that when it is politically expedient, servicemen are seen as expendable and denied justice.

The political exclusion of veterans from proper justice is well-known to veterans who took part in nuclear test experiments in the Pacific and Australia. The same negative culture has also been applied to veterans who attended biological and chemical weapon experiments at Porton Down during the Fifties and Sixties.

In the above cases, as with Sgt Blackman, veterans have been faced with no other option than litigation (without legal aid) to achieve a just settlement of their claims.

These cases often evolve into a legal battle with the Establishment. This appears to be because under a weak military covenant, which is not enshrined into law as promised in 2010, servicemen have no rights, and verdicts on their cases can be contrived to exclude them from receiving proper justice.

Nuclear veterans and widows, for example, were cleared by a panel of three law lords to proceed to the High Court for trial on a case-by-case basis.

However, very quickly their claims were blocked, by what many consider a contentious verdict of four against three, in the Supreme Court in 2012. The Porton Down veterans eventually gained an admission that one servicemen exposed to chemical and biological weapons was ‘ unlawfully’ killed during the experiments, but it took almost 50 years to gain this verdict.

DENNIS HAYDEN, Nuclear veteran, Lydney, Glos. AS A retired military wife, and mother of a serving naval officer, I have been following the story of Sgt Alexander Blackman.

To read that top brass have warned of disciplinary action against any troops caught attending a gathering in Westminster in support of Sgt Blackman, took me right back to the Seventies, when our serving military men were grossly underpaid. And as they were serving personnel they were not allowed to strike or complain about pay.

This came to light because the firemen were on strike for more pay and at the time were paid more than our serving soldiers.

So wives up and down the UK of all serving personnel held meetings and marches and demanded fairer pay on their behalf. The Press were very supportive of our rallying cry and the military got a 40 per cent pay rise.

My message to all military wives, and all veterans up and down the UK, who support Sgt Blackman, is to ensure that this man receives a fair, first-class defence.

MARJ HAYDEN, address supplied.