VICTIMS OF A CHARISMATIC CON ARTIST

LAST week the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Phil Shiner should be struck off because of his reckless campaign of false and exaggerated allegations against our armed forces.

That decision was made possible because two years ago I took the unprecedented step of directing officials to assemble and submit evidence of this dishonesty

This intervention was justified by the gravity of what the £31 million Al Sweady public inquiry revealed about Mr Shiner’s behaviour. I was not prepared to let someone who pursued false accusations of torture, murder, and mutilation against our armed forces get away with it.

Mr Shiner’s downfall will have been painful to behold for those in the human rights lobby who lionised him. But as is often the case with charismatic conmen, it was not just naïve campaigners whom he fooled.

For too long he and others were able to exploit vulnerabilities in our legal system, exacerbated by the seemingly relentless rulings that expanded the reach of the European Convention of Human Rights into combat zones and fuelled by legal aid.

This has damaged the reputation of our armed forces and in too many cases has forced blameless military personnel to relive painful events of many years ago.

Mr Shiner’s allegations were on an industrial scale. Thousands had to be examined and in some cases investigated, under unprecedented scrutiny by the High Court and the International Criminal Court. Let me be clear – there was no alternative.

Anyone who thinks that Ministers or civil servants have the authority to direct or to influence the decisions of criminal investigators or prosecutors does not understand our justice system, where independence is crucial.

The investigation into the Iraq allegations has been carried out by a special unit called the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) set up by the previous government. The criticism they have faced and the questioning of their motives and those of MOD officials are deplorable.

Prior to the damning ruling on Mr Shiner, Ihat was already close to completion of the first phase – that of winnowing out thousands of allegations which would not justify a full investigation.

We are now at a new stage – the beginning of the end. as Mr Shiner’s involvement has poisoned so many of the allegations, the Director of the Ihat has concluded that by the summer the number of cases which should be investigated will be greatly diminished, much below the existing target of 60 to around a third of that.

Therefore I have decided that the work of Ihat as a separate unit should end, with investigations progressively reduced and reintegrated into the service police system.

Rather than investigations continuing until the end of 2019, the remaining investigations could be completed as early as next year.

In parallel, the Royal Military Police who are examining 675 allegations of abuse in Afghanistan, are in the process of discontinuing work on around 90 per cent of them. Many of these claims come from another law firm — Leigh Day — that worked with Mr Shiner on the Al Sweady allegations.

WE ARE now close to putting behind us most of the poisonous lies which have plagued our armed forces over the past decade. But this is not enough. The government will ensure that our armed forces overseas are no longer subject to human rights claims that undermine their ability to do their job.

I am working with the Justice Secretary to deal with this problem once and for all. Some measures have already been announced, including the presumption that we will derogate from the European Court of Human Rights in future operations when it is right to do so.

When it comes to Northern Ireland, legacy investigations have focused almost entirely on former police officers and soldiers. This is wrong, and we will ensure a fair approach to investigating the past.

There will be occasions in the future where allegations against our armed forces need to be investigated. Anyone facing allegations will be offered improved welfare support as well as continue to receive free independent legal support.

Together these safeguards should ensure that our armed forces never again have to face such reckless campaigns of denigration.