Soldiers ‘can’t afford lawyers’
SOLDIERS face being found guilty of crimes they did not commit because they cannot afford to be represented in court, lawyers claimed yesterday.
Military personnel of all ranks are being told by the Ministry of Defence to pay bills of up to £9,000 for a barrister to defend them against baseless claims.
Many cannot afford the contributions and so are left turning up at courts martial facing ‘excessive and unsupported’ charges without a lawyer, it is claimed.
The Military Mutual (TMM), which offers insurance for Armed Forces families, has taken on nearly 100 cases for free. The organisation, chaired by Major General Sir Sebastian Roberts, who retired from the Army in
010, has had hundreds more requests for help.
Lawrence Jones, a barrister who works for TMM, said: ‘The vast majority of servicemen have complained that they simply cannot afford to pay the contribution.
‘In many of these cases, where The Military Mutual have supported defendants, the charges are excessive and are unsupported.’
He said TMM had seen soldiers told to pay from £ ,080 to £8,750, adding: ‘Soldiers who cannot afford this are having to present their case alone.
‘In 90 per cent of those cases the soldier would have been found wrongfully guilty which would have been life-changing.’
The amount troops have to pay the Armed Forces Criminal Legal Aid Authority is means-tested – but lawyers claim soldiers on small incomes are still forced to pay staggering costs.
Troops facing courts martial over alleged conduct in Iraq, Afghanistan or Northern Ireland are exempt and have legal costs paid for.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘All our personnel interviewed after caution receive funded legal assistance and then, if their case is referred to trial, our dedicated legal aid body would contact them to ensure they receive what they are entitled to.
‘The majority pay nothing towards their legal fees and where they do contribute, it is based on means testing of their disposable income.’
WHILE millions have been handed to ambulance-chasing law firms to pursue a witchhunt of veterans, military personnel facing courts martial over incidents in the UK pay up to £9,000 to cover their own defence.
Everyone facing a criminal court should have a lawyer provided for them. That rule should apply equally to soldiers who agree to put their lives on the line just as much as to terrorists, murderers, rapists and paedophiles.