Ministers to call time on Ulster witch-hunt
Cap on age for ‘suspects’ 5-year limit on all inquiries Police told: Focus on terrorists instead
POLICE and prosecutors will be banned by law from turning investigations of British troops in Northern Ireland into a ‘witch hunt’.
Ministers have begun work on legislation which will compel authorities to treat historical cases with ‘proportionality’.
Under proposals being drafted in Whitehall, there would be an upper age limit on who could be investigated, a five-year time limit on how long an inquiry can last, and a limit on maximum sentences for anyone found guilty.
The Bill is expected to state that since 90 per cent of killings in the Troubles were by terrorists, not soldiers, that is where 90 per cent of police funds to investigate old cases should now be spent.
Ministers are also pushing for new rules on reopening inquests after it emerged that law firms had played a major role in forcing 31 new hearings into 57 killings by Army personnel. And where there are new inquests, soldiers would be allowed to send written statements rather than face the trauma of giving evidence in person.
The law is designed to stop veterans facing multiple investiga- tions which drag on for years. Ministers are determined to stop troops facing another taxpayerfunded witch-hunt after the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (Ihat) dredged up more than 3,000 claims of wrongdoing in the Gulf War. A senior Whitehall source said: ‘They’ve been pushing hard on this. Make no mistake we do not want another Ihat. We will not allow Northern Ireland to become another Ihat.’
Last year it emerged that a new police unit will investigate every British Army killing during the Troubles. The taxpayer-funded Legacy Investigation Branch is ready to reopen 238 ‘ fatal incidents’ which involved 302 deaths. It takes over from the Historical Enquiries Team, which was set up in 2006 but disbanded six years later following budget cuts and a critical report.
MPs and military chiefs have condemned as ‘disgraceful’ the decision to re- examine cases dating back nearly 50 years. Up to 1,000 former soldiers now in their 60s and 70 could face investigations over their actions at the height of the IRA’s terrorist campaign four decades ago.
It is hoped that by diverting funds into investigating terrorists, the new law will limit the numbers whose lives are turned upside down. A fiveyear limit on investigations would begin from the time veterans get a letter asking about incidents. And soldiers who reach a certain age — not yet specified — will gain immunity so they will not have cases hanging over them for years.
Since 2013 the Ministry of Defence has sent out 400 letters to ex-soldiers asking for information about incidents stretching back four decades or more. Those who received them still fear prosecution because investigators have not told them whether their cases are closed or not.
The new law would help veterans such as the 75-year-old Chelsea Pensioner quizzed by Northern Ireland police at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, in 2013 over his involvement in an ambush in July 1972. The Mail revealed last month how four years later he is still terrified he will get another letter. Nobody has returned his calls as he tries to find out if his case has been closed or not.
Two ex-paratroopers aged 67 and 65 are expected to face a murder trial over the killing of an IRA commander in Northern Ireland in 1972. The surviving members of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment patrol that opened fire on the terrorist had twice been assured they would not be taken to court over his shooting at the height of the Troubles, but now face jail if convicted.
And ex-Warrant Officer (Class 1) Dennis Hutchings, a 75-year- old great-grandfather, has been charged with attempted murder over the 1974 fatal shooting of an IRA suspect, later found to be innocent.
Ministers pushed for the new Bill after probes into soldiers who served in Iraq descended into what has been condemned as a ‘witch-hunt’.
The Mail has revealed how some Iraq veterans have had multiple investigations hanging over their heads for as long as ten years.
Soldiers forced to attend inquests into Iraqi deaths have suffered mental health problems as a result. One had to take sick leave over the stress of reliving the event. Another, already suffering post traumatic stress disorder, was so badly affected investigators feared he might kill himself.
WITCH-HUNT AGAINST OUR HEROES