FOR too long, both former and serving soldiers have been subjected to baseless investigations into alleged wrong-doings.

In the Commons, I and many of my colleagues have been lobbying the Prime Minister to draw a line under this shameful persecution.

This week, my colleague Richard Benyon, a former serviceman and minister, submitted a Bill which, if enacted, would end the infamous “lawfare”, where soldiers can be investigated decades after alleged offences took place.

He suggests a statutory limitation of 10 years, which does allow time for legitimate cases to be brought and before the trail of evidence goes cold.
His inspiration was partly the work of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), which ended in ignominy after £60 million of public funds were used to bring “spurious and unassessed” cases against war veterans, who were offered no military support.

Following a scathing report by the Parliamentary defence select committee, IHAT was shut down.

However, many other old soldiers remain in the firing line.

Dennis Hutchings, for example, the last surviving member of a patrol in Armagh in 1974, where a terrorist was killed in a firefight, is to be investigated again.

Aged 76, and terminally ill, Mr Hutchings has already faced 26 interviews over what happened.

He says it’s a “betrayal”, and I concur.

While we have a right to expect the highest standards of behaviour from our armed forces, they must know they will be supported and shielded from vexatious claims.

To date, the odds have been stacked against them.

The ‘comfort letters’, absolving the IRA of some of the most heinous crimes of the Troubles, are a case in point.

Of course, our soldiers must face justice if they behave criminally.

But the effect of these endless, retrospective prosecutions upon morale cannot be overstated.