THOUSANDS of ageing former police officers face potential bankruptcy from a new Northern Ireland witch hunt, ministers have been warned.

Boris Johnson has pledged to protect military veterans from new spurious claims arising from their service during the Troubles.

But the RUC’s retired 10,000 officers have been offered no protection at all.

The Police Federation of Northern Ireland insists a major new probe – set up on Sinn Fein’s demand – could end up with many of their old ranks dragged through the civil courts without any state support.

The Historical Investigations Unit will must be set up within 100 days of December’s new power sharing agreement for the Stormont Assembly.

The ex-cops are particularly livid that that plans have been drawn up for the unit to probe a brand new charge of ‘non-criminal police misconduct’.

It was drawn up by Northern Ireland Office officials to look at allegations that don’t break the law, from collusion to lost paperwork.

The retired officers fear it will be used to open a floodgate of civil claims against them.

FORCED TO 'DIP DEEP'

While military vets’ legal expenses are picked up by the MoD, ex-RUC officers must pay their own bills, forcing many to dig deep into their pensions.

Former RUC Assistant Chief Constable Chris Albiston told The Sun: “If police officers committed criminal offences while serving, there should be no place for them to hide and the evidence should be brought forward.

“If the cases have failed, it is often because they exist only in the mind of the accusers.

“That’s why non-criminal police misconduct was dreamt up, to keep the Republican narrative going.

“A retried constable might be on a pension of £18,000 a year, while their legal bills could run to the hundreds of thousands. It will break them.”

Mr Albiston, 66, added: “It is a scandal, and it has major implications for all retired police officers across the UK.

“Vexatious lawyers could use the Northern Irish precedent to pursue any retired policeman anywhere in the country for any grudge they want.”

The retired cops want the PM to offer them the same protection he has promised to give former Army soldiers by changing the law to end witch hunts against them.

'BECOMING THE SCAPEGOAT'

Police Federation of Northern Ireland chairman Mark Lindsay told The Sun: “We would like the Prime Minister to give the same offer to ex-police officers as he has military veterans – no new inquiry unless there is new evidence.

“We are becoming the scapegoat in all this, while those who murdered and maimed will be getting away scot free.

“The whole process is totally flawed.”

Unless its powers are curbed by ministers now, the HIU is likely to re-investigate around 1,700 deaths through out the 30 years of violence.

To do that, the federation has estimaetd that the new unit will need 500 detectives working for 10 years, at a cost of £40m – leaving an eyewatering total bill of £400m.

Of all 3,532 killings during the Troubles, 90 per cent were by Republican or loyalist terrorists, with only 10 per cent casued by the security forces.

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr added: “Boris must take immediate and decisive action to save our former police officers from years of intolerable and vexatious claims that could leave some in penury.

“These brave people, many now getting om in life, held the line between peace and terror so this is an appalling way for any government to treat them.”

The PFNI say Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith is refusing to meet them despite three requests.

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