Article published in The Mirror on 3 February 2017. © Richard Kemp

Striking him off should be only the beginning of legal action against crooked lawyer Phil Shiner.

This man broke the law by falsifying evidence against soldiers who had been risking their lives to defend our country.
Improperly procuring allegations against them he hounded these brave fighting men through inquiries and court cases often for years.

Falsely accusing them of murder and torture he placed them and their families under untold psychological torture and brought some of them to the brink of suicide.

For his own financial gain and his anti-British political agenda he forced our soldiers to relive again and again nightmares they had endured on the battlefield.

But maliciously spreading and publicising such ghastly lies has even darker consequences.

Shiner’s accusations helped incite our jihadist enemies at home and around the world, providing ideal propaganda for terrorist leaders to inspire recruits and attract funders.

It is certainly possible that people have died as a consequence of Shiner’s malpractice.

The government must now actively pursue criminal charges against Shiner and his henchmen.

Individual servicemen who have been targeted by him should sue and they should be supported in this by the MOD.

Neither should we forget the MOD’s role in enabling and facilitating Shiner’s assaults against their own men.

This is only part of a wider vendetta that is being conducted against our troops who have fought in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Several ministers, including the Prime Minister, have spoken out against it. That is not enough.

They must learn the lesson of the Shiner debacle and end the persecution of the brave men who have volunteered to put their lives on the line to defend us.