Latest news with #NukedBlood
Daily Mirror
28-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Veterans to see Nuked Blood evidence at last, but it will take 4 years to read
Evidence about Nuked Blood experiments on troops is to be made available to veterans at last, but there is so much of it that it will take four years to read through 'Lab rat' veterans used in government radiation experiments have been told they can finally see hidden documents about the programme - but it will take more than four YEARS to read them all. A top secret database about troops used in nuclear weapons tests is set to be declassified, but it is so vast that campaigners fear almost every veteran will be dead by the time it has been read. Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: "The average age of our veterans is now 86 and we hear of another one dying without justice almost every week. To tell those men they can only get the answers they've waited seven decades for it they manage to hang on a bit longer is morally abhorrent. "The government knows what's in those files: the Prime Minister should simply admit it to Parliament." The database, codenamed Merlin, was created in 2007 to hold records for a legal claim brought by veterans and widows. After the case failed, it was classified on the grounds it held information that it could proliferate nuclear weapons and aid terrorists. In 2023 the Mirror exposed that in fact that it included documents about a long-denied mass blood testing programme on troops. Such biological monitoring could provide the first irrefutable evidence of what amounts to human experiments - showing whether radiation entered the men's bodies, while scientists took note of the effects. Many veterans have subsequently found the results of the tests are missing from their medical records, and the misuse of security classifications is now the subject of a criminal allegations to police about misconduct in public office by staff of the MoD and AWE. * You can donate to the veteran's search for justice HERE A handful of the Merlin files were released last year and featured in a BBC documentary about the Nuked Blood scandal. Ministry of Defence officials have now confirmed to campaigners the entire database will be published, for free, and made available online. But the 28,000 files are estimated to include more than 700,000 pages. If veterans were able to review 500 pages a day, it would still take 1,465 days, or more than 4 years, to get through them all. Oli Troen of law firm McCue Jury which is helping veterans to sue the MoD said: "It is no surprise that, when the MoD finally releases the evidence it has kept under lock and key until now, it tells them to figure it out for themselves. "The MoD knows damn well what's in those files, and how important they are to the veterans and their families. The Prime Minister and Defence Secretary must treat these heroes with more respect and engage with them properly, not least to avoid what will otherwise be a costly and protracted legal battle that will shame this government." The lawsuit, which is expected to be issued soon, seeks to force the MoD to produce the results of the monitoring programme. The Merlin records are expected to be made available via the National Archives at Kew, but there is no timeframe for them to go online. A spokesman for the archive confirmed the records would be free to access and available for digital download, but they had not yet been provided by the MoD.
Daily Mirror
11-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Nuked Blood: Met Police handed "ticking timebomb" with report of crimes at MoD
The Met Police has received an allegation of criminal misconduct by officials at the MoD as the Nuked Blood scandal deepens Nuclear veterans have handed the Ministry of Defence "a ticking timebomb" after lodging a criminal complaint. A long list of officials have been accused of potential misconduct in public office over a campaign to cover up radiation experiments on troops during the Cold War. Senior officers of the Met Police will now assess a 500-page dossier of evidence collated by the Mirror during its 3-year investigation of the Nuked Blood Scandal. Veteran John Morris, who has suffered cancer and a 60-year blood disorder after washing contaminated uniforms at Christmas Island, has medical records missing the results of blood tests and chest x-rays taken before, during and after his service. John, 87, of Rochdale, said: "We told Keir Starmer what happened, we told his deputy, we told the Defence Secretary, and they've failed to act, so this is what it's come to. We've given them every opportunity to make it right. They can't brush it under the carpet any longer. If the Met were to refuse to investigate, the scandal would just grow. "This is a ticking timebomb of their own making, and the only way to defuse it is for the Prime Minister to sit down and talk to us." The complaint was made in Westminster on the eve of VE Day, as politicians and royalty gathered to honour the sacrifices of what Starmer called "the greatest generation". But it was the 40,000 men who took part in the nuclear weapons programme who secured that peace - and who have been lied to ever since. The scandal blew open after decades of denial in 2022 when the Mirror uncovered a secret memo about blood tests of Group Captain Terry Gledhill, who had led planes through the mushroom clouds on sampling missions for scientists. They showed "gross irregularity" and after a long legal battle with the MoD his daughter Jane discovered most were missing from his official medical records. They also showed he had been x-rayed and blood-tested for more than a decade afterwards. Grandmother Jane, 73, of Poole, is the first named victim in the complaint. She said: "I'm doing this for my dad because he spent years asking doctors what was wrong with him, and they wouldn't have known he was at the nuclear tests at all if he hadn't told them. They were working blind. After he died I found he'd left me a message urging me to find out the truth. He felt responsible for his men and he would want to make sure they were told the truth about what was done to them." They were supported by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham who has likened Nuked Blood to the infected blood and Hillsborough scandals, calling it "the greatest injustice of them all". He said: "This involved tens of thousands of people who were serving our country overseas, and here they are decades later still fighting in the wilderness to find out the truth of what happened to them and get a measure of justice." He warned other politicians and officials that if they did not act, they risked becoming complicit. "It's incumbent upon every single person in public office who is rightly showing respect today for those who served our country to now step forward, and get truth and justice for our nuclear test veterans. Because if you don't do that as a country, then the words that we speak about our veterans will forever be hollow words." Voice of the Mirror: Fighting for the truth for 40 years While all of Britain has rightly honoured the veterans who won the peace of VE Day, the Mirror is fighting for the men who secured it. Only our nuclear veterans can claim to have saved three generations from war. Yet those heroes have been mistreated and maligned, used as 'lab rats' in human experiments and then dismissed. The Mirror does take lightly the allegation that there may be a continuing criminal cover-up. Some of those involved may simply have made mistakes. But those errors - if that is what they were - have caused lifelong harm to our bravest and boldest, and to their families. Harm that must be resolved. We have been careful and diligent. We have compiled and checked the evidence. And we are proud to stand alongside our test veterans as they take this momentous step, as we have for more than 40 years. We always will. All we ask is that others do the same. Our dossier shows how the blood testing programme was publicly denied by the MoD in 2001, the High Court was given false information about it in 2008, and Parliament misled in 2018. The truth became obvious after the Mirror uncovered a top secret database at the Atomic Weapons Establishment containing more than 30 orders for mass blood tests of troops to assess how much radiation was entering their bodies, evidence that at least 1,000 people had been tested, and names of 550 individuals called up for testing. Civilians and indigenous people were also examined, and dozens of veterans have reported the relevant information is missing from their medical records. Veterans claim the database was unlawfully classified as a national security risk, which kept its contents hidden from them during lawsuits and pension claims. The evidence includes witness statements submitted on behalf of the MoD to the High Court and Court of Appeal, Freedom of Information admissions, medical records and historic documents that were hidden from the public. The list of potential witnesses include veterans, descendants, former and current ministers, and senior officials at the MoD, AWE, and Government Legal Department. The crime of misconduct carries a maximum life sentence for any public official who has acted unlawfully and caused harm to someone as a result. A spokesman for the Met Police said: "A report was submitted to the Met Police on Wednesday, 7 May relating to non-recent allegations against a public body. The report is currently being assessed to determine the most appropriate course of action. We have not launched any investigation at this stage." A spokesman for the MoD said: "We refute these unsubstantiated claims, and ministers and officials acted properly based on the evidence available to them at the time. We recognise the huge contribution that nuclear test veterans have made to national security. The Minister for Veterans and People has commissioned officials to look seriously into unresolved questions regarding medical records as a priority, and this is now underway. This work will be comprehensive, and it will enable us to better understand what information the department holds in relation to the medical testing of service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests." A spokesman for the GLD added: "The GLD is, and always has been, committed to upholding the rule of law and maintaining the highest professional standards. That includes the way in which it represents government departments in litigation. We strongly refute any claims of misconduct and consider this a serious and unsubstantiated allegation."
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Video emerges of Defence Secretary saying nuke veterans scandal "shames us as a country"
A video has emerged showing Defence Secretary John Healey saying Britain's continuing mistreatment of nuclear veterans "shames us as a country." Filmed three years ago while Labour was in Opposition, it has resurfaced after the revelation that Mr Healey's promised review into radiation experiments involving UK troops had no budget, staffing or deadline. In the footage, then-Shadow Defence Secretary Mr Healey told an audience of party members: "If we are the only atomic test country with no recognition, and no compensation reward scheme for those veterans who were put at risk, suffered damage and whose relatives suffered loss and damage as a result, then that shames us. That shames us as a country, and we have to fix it." He went on: "There is no good reason, there is no good moral reason, there is no good military reason, for withholding the recognition and compensation that other countries have had." Yet 10 months since Labour came to power, there is no compensation scheme, and no recognition beyond a commemorative medal which was authorised by the Tories. And there has been no explanation of how Parliament heard last week about a leaked letter from the government to veterans' lawyers which admitted for the first time that scientists may have carried out biological monitoring of the troops without medical supervision. * You can donate to the veterans' legal crowdfunder HERE The video was recorded before the medal was announced, and before the Mirror published the first evidence of the Nuked Blood scandal which has found evidence that troops had their blood and urine monitored for radiation during the weapons trials, with the results later found to be missing from their medical records. Shortly before Mr Healey's speech, Labour leader Keir Starmer had also given his full backing to the veterans. Writing for the Mirror in August 2022, he said: "It's appalling that Britain's nuclear test veterans and their families have not yet had justice after years of maltreatment, and I'm saddened that their long campaign is exceeding the life of so many of them." He called on then-PM Boris Johnson to deliver the medal and added: "The country owes a huge debt of honour to these veterans. The Prime Minister must act to deliver the appreciation, respect and justice they deserve, and Labour will continue to support their campaign every step of the way." Despite expressing his "gratitude" to the veterans after becoming PM, Mr Starmer has made no public comment on the blood test programme, and a "thorough" review of the archives promised to Parliament by Mr Healey has been given no budget with which to find answers. Nuked Blood review by ministers is "yet another cover-up", say campaigners Peter Stefanovic, lawyer and CEO of the Campaign for Social Justice, unearthed the video of Mr Healey speaking at an event for the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool in 2022. His campaign videos regularly chalk up millions of views on social media, and provoke public outrage. He said: "If the state was conducting medical tests upon servicemen and not informing them when they found serious irregularity, that is at the very least misconduct in public office and, more serious, perhaps gross negligence manslaughter in respect of people who have died." He added: "This is no way for the government to treat national heroes. This country owes them and their families a huge debt of honour and gratitude. But instead, successive governments have stonewalled them and subjected them to decades of maltreatment and injustice. "Labour made their position quite clear in opposition but now in government there's still no compensation scheme in sight and no money has been made available for the 'thorough' review promised. Let's show these national heroes they're not alone, let's show them by standing should to shoulder with them now, and by honouring the enormous sacrifice they've made for this country." Veteran families have reacted with fury to the video, which they had hoped was a guarantee Labour would not betray them. Janet Barton, whose husband Eric was among thousands of troops ordered to take part in 24 US bomb tests at Christmas Island in 1962, said: "Tell us anything to get our vote. None of them keep their word and promises. They should hang their heads in shame." Colin Duncan, who as part of 543 Squadron has been denied the medal after sampling the mushroom clouds of French and Chinese tests in the Pacific in the 1970s, said: "They are all the same. It's the people in the background who are stopping this going ahead... show yourselves or you have no shame at all. Look at what you are doing and have done. You should have been taken to court years ago under health and safety and then charged with manslaughter to say the least."
