Northern Ireland veterans: Colonel slams government's 'easy route'

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Speaking to Express.co.uk, Colonel Richard Kemp, who has served in five conflicts in a career spanning 30-years, expressed his dismay at the Government’s promise to end all prosecutions of veterans and terrorists involved in the Troubles before 1998. He explained how the move equates British veterans facing trial for crimes committed during the conflict with terrorists, and would leave victims’ families without answers. Colonel Kemp stressed how he did not in fact believe the promises by the Government will go through Parliament. His comments come as the veterans’ community has slammed the decision as a sell-out, with former veterans minister Johnny Mercer highlighting how a statute of limitations without qualification is an “amnesty”.

On July 14, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis announced how the Government will work to end the prosecution of veterans in Northern Ireland but the decision came with major concessions which has caused a backlash.

In a speech, Mr Lewis said: “We know that the prospect of the end of criminal prosecutions will be difficult for some to accept and this is not a position we take lightly.

“But we’ve come to the view that this is the best and only way to facilitate an effective information retrieval and provision process, and the best way to help Northern Ireland move further along the road to reconciliation. It is, in reality, a painful recognition of the very reality of where we are.”

The decision also applies to former-IRA terrorists involved in killing British soldiers.

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Following the news, Colonel Kemp explained: “The reality is that successive governments have faced a very, very tough situation.

“When you face a tough situation, you have got to be prepared to take risks, to put some effort in, and to bring political will to bear to deal with it, if it is heavily contested as this whole issue is.”

He added how the Government has been “unwilling to do that” and hit out adding how ministers have been “much more happy” to find “the easy path through”.

The British Army veteran explained how the behaviour of successive governments has “effectively led to a situation where terrorists were granted letters of comfort” adding that with the Good Friday Agreement they were handed “get out of jail free cards.

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“Royal pardons, were released from prisons early and that was decided by the government at the time to be a necessary concession in order to bring about peace in Northern Ireland – and maybe it was,” he continued.

But he stressed how at the time this move did not solve the problems of the continued prosecution of British soldiers accused of crimes from The Troubles who were not “afforded protection” like the terrorists in Northern Ireland which has continued to the present day.

Colonel Kemp concluded that as a result of continued lack of action to properly solve the ongoing problems, the Government “has allowed, and it should not have allowed, Sinn Fein to push forward its agenda.

“Often hiding behind the sadness and the traumatisation of survivors and families of people who were killed to rewrite history.”

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Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer echoed a similiar sentiment and expressed his disappointment following the decision, he said: “It would be wrong to welcome this after I’ve categorically stated for so long that this would not be the best option.

‘Similarly, it would be churlish to not welcome progress. I hope the NIO can work hard to bring the families of the victims with them.

“A statute of limitations without qualification is an amnesty – something I have always opposed. We should not – in all conscience cut off pathways to justice where evidence exists, simply because time passed.

“It would be wrong to do so, and veterans who fought to keep the peace within the strict constraints of the law in Northern Ireland have never advocated this path.

“There are much better, much more professional ways of dealing with legacy in Northern Ireland, but this was always the simple answer – I understand why the Government is doing this, but I would have done things differently.”

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