Retired police asked to investigate troops over abuse

Police Officers (Narpo), last week circulated a job advert seeking specialists to undertake criminal investigations into war veterans.

It was placed at the request of Red Snapper Group, a private recruitment company, that is paid £5 million a year to provide staff to the government unit investigating incidents going back as far as 13 years.

Retired officers were so appalled that they threatened to quit Narpo. Many are calling for a boycott of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat). Narpo withdrew the advert on Friday night within 24 hours of it being circulated in an email.

A Narpo representative said in a message: “This circulation was an error of judgment. A number of members will have been offended by the circulation content. Please accept my apologies for any offence caused and delete the original email.”

Dixie Hughes, a retired officer with Dorset Police, said: “The whole thing is a witch hunt based on the Government turning on its own troops. I would urge all retired policemen to boycott Ihat. The whole idea of taking what happens in a war situation and then judging behaviour on the basis of civilian laws years later is wrong.”

Mr Hughes posted his concern on a Facebook page reserved for Narpo members. Another former officer wrote to Narpo saying: “Is this a joke? If so it’s in very bad taste.”

Former Army captain, Johnny Mercer, the Conservative MP chairing a parliamentary inquiry into the treatment of soldiers under investigation, applauded the stance taken by the retired police. He said: “Although the Government has lost its moral compass on this, it is heartening to see retired police officers have not.”

The recruitment advert was circulated by Narpo’s Dorset branch. It is not clear if it reached other branches.

Ian Reading, recruitment operations manager for Red Snapper, wrote a message to the local branch organiser, then forwarded on, saying: “Can I ask a favour of you? I would be grateful if you could send a message out to your members asking them to consider a job vacancy that we are recruiting for on behalf of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, MoD, based in Wiltshire.”

The job paid £32,000 a year, which for officers retired on full pensions is a potentially lucrative sideline.

Ihat was launched in 2010 and is expected to run until 2020 at a cost of about £60 million. It is currently investigating almost 1,500 abuse allegations. A series of investigations prompted an outcry over the “hounding” of British troops.