Ulster veterans’ shock in the post

ALMOST 400 retired British soldiers have been sent cold-call letters digging for information about their service in Northern Ireland, it can be revealed.

Former troops were quizzed about their involvement in the Troubles in post sent by Ministry of Defence officials.

The personnel, many in their 70s and 80s, were asked to volunteer any information that could help police in their re-investigation of every British Army killing.

Although they are addressed as witnesses, it is possible they could be later treated as a murder or manslaughter suspect over actions they took decades ago at the height of the IRA’s terror campaign, sources say. Ex troops and MPs last night condemned the ‘disgusting witch-hunt’. Officials first began sending the letters in 2013 at the request of the police, but they have continued in recent months.

Last week it emerged the Police Service of Northern Ireland is re-examining 302 deaths in Ulster as part of its taxpayer-funded Legacy Investigation Branch.

The MoD confirmed that ‘close to 400 letters’ were sent to potential witnesses. ‘Military witnesses would of course help ensure the courts hear every side of the story,’ added a spokesman. Paratroopers at the centre of a police probe into Bloody Sunday were among those who received letters. Members of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, were asked about the deaths of ten civilians in another shooting in Belfast in 1971.

Nigel Kelsall, of campaign group UK Veterans One Voice, said the letters were creating ‘an extraordinary amount of worry’.

MP Colonel Bob Stewart, who served in Northern Ireland, said: ‘I would tell the Ministry of Defence to stuff itself.’ And MP Andrew Murrison, a former Northern Ireland and defence minister, said: ‘We must not let the message go out it is OK to hound elderly service personnel and their families.