Daily Mail - 13.08.2019

Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 13, 2019 Page 29

OF A HERO

ing a bomb disposal squadron.

despite bitter fighting and the

constant threat of Ieds, he did

not lose any men and, when he

returned, was awarded a Joint

Commanders Commendation.

other plaudits followed. In

June 2008, he defused a 1,000 kg

Luftwaffe bomb on an olympic

construction site in London. It

took 20 hours. He received a letter

of thanks from then-London

mayor boris Johnson and was

awarded a Commander-in-Chief

Commendation. ‘I appeared to be

back on track,’ he says.

but then, driving home, he heard

on the radio that the army had

published the aitken report:

an Investigation into Cases of

deliberate abuse and Unlawful

Killing in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

mr Campbell had not known

that an investigation had been

under way. He was then called by

the unit adjutant who said that

Campbell’s basra case was one of

those included. He was told: ‘don’t

worry, it’s just a Pr exercise. no

one will read it.’

How wrong he was.

‘What the dimwits at the mod

didn’t grasp was that Phil Shiner

and other lawyers like him grabbed

this report and said: “brilliant!”

they took it as an admission of

guilt and used it as source material

to round up all the witnesses for

future legal actions,’ he says.

It was the catalyst for a tidal

wave of spurious accusations.

Yet, when he returned to afghan-

istan in July 2010, mr Campbell

believed the basra allegations were

at last behind him.

‘but then I got an email from

one of my co-accused who said he

had received a letter from the

treasury Solicitor’s department

— the government’s legal team.

‘another human rights law firm

active in Iraqi cases had filed a suit

claiming unlawful death on behalf

of [Said Shabram’s] family against

the mod. they wanted us to make

more statements.’

mr Campbell took legal advice

and was told to make no further

statement, a position that he has

maintained to this day.

the government settled out of

court with the family. ‘I believe

they paid £100,000 to the family of

the dead man and £45,000 to

the guy who did not drown,’ says

mr Campbell. In making the pay-

ments, the mod denied any

liability for the death.

He later discovered that, while

in afghanistan, the royal military

Police started another criminal

investigation into him over the

incident. ‘It was dropped, but

can you believe the duplicity of

it?’ he asks now.

Later during that tour — for

which he received a nato

meritorious Service medal — he

suffered the injuries that plague

him to this day. Caught on the roof

of a two-storey building in a

firefight in which two of his men

were killed, he jumped for his life.

Wearing 60 kg of kit, the impact

on landing smashed vertebrae

and damaged his hips. He was

flown home.

‘now I knew I was struggling,’ he

says. ‘my back was wrecked, my

hearing was going and I started to

have mental health problems.’

In January 2012, he ‘pretty much

had a physical and mental break-

down. I was diagnosed with PtSd.

they told me “go home” and then

just forgot about me’.

there was no contact with the

army for four months, during

which ‘I wasn’t coping’, he says.

eventually, he recovered enough

to be sent on attachment to the

raF, where he was deployed twice

more to afghanistan and, in 2014,

promoted to the rank of major.

then came the next legal blow.

‘at end of 2014, I was on my way on

holiday to Iceland when my mobile

rang. It was my ex-girlfriend, who

said: “there are two police here

asking about the incident in

Iraq.. .” they were trying that

old copper’s trick of going to an

ex-partner, hoping for animosity.

but we got on — and she told

me everything.

‘and they were not actually

policemen. they were civilian

investigators from IHat [the

Iraq Historic allegations team].’

the team had been set up by the

Labour government ‘to review and

investigate allegations of abuse of

Iraqi civilians by UK armed forces

personnel in Iraq’. It received more

than 3,000 allegations of unlawful

death in total. one concerned mr

Campbell’s case.

‘they asked my ex if I was a

racist, alcoholic or violent. they

kept trying to make her say bad

things. She didn’t even know me

in 2003. When I came back from

holiday, I found that IHat had

contacted everyone in the army

who had contact with me.’

mr Campbell was, at this stage,

studying at staff college. His

mental health relapsed.

‘IHat investigators monitored

my emails and asked my bank for

my financial details. the army

handed over my service and

medical records without telling

me, let alone asking permission,

then denied they had done so

before finally admitting it.

‘What were they going to find

that was of any evidential use?

but they had no checks and bal-

ances. they were out of control.

and the contractors (most of the

IHat staff were civilian by then)

were being paid by the hour and

raking it in.

‘the sapper who had been

present on the day of the incident

had left the army and moved to

australia. IHat visited him there

twice. great for them!’

eventually, the three accused

were interviewed under caution

at civilian police stations.

‘they asked me a lot of stupid

questions,’ recalls mr Campbell. ‘I

could see their notes and they kept

writing: “Clarify with PIL” — Public

Interest Lawyers, the name of Phil

Shiner’s firm. they were getting

directions from him.’

PIL had the best contacts on the

ground in Iraq.

mr Campbell says he had another

mental breakdown and his physical

injuries were deteriorating. He took

sick leave in February 2016 and

never went back. He returned his

campaign medals to the Queen.

IHat handed over his case to the

director Service Prosecutions (an

organisation within the mod), the

a I o e b m p i I L i I p t d C r k t i h c

is told by a senior officer it is just a

‘PR exercise’.

Fourth investigation: Second

inquiry by RMP. Case is dropped.

Fifth investigation,

December 2014: Iraq Historic

Allegations Team begins inquiry

into Said Shabram’s death. The

case is passed to MoD’s Director

Service Prosecutions.

Sixth investigation,

September 2016: Director

Service Prosecutions decides there

is no case to answer.

Seventh investigation,

October 2016: Director Service

Prosecutions’ decision is reviewed

by yet another new prosecutor.

In January 2018, it is decided there is

no case to answer.

Eighth investigation,

March 2018: Case reopened

by Iraq Fatality Investigations.

Ongoing.

TURN TO PAGE 31

On patrol: Major Robert

Campbell. Above: Iraqi

teenager Said Shabram

‘I had a physical

and mental

breakdown’