Donal MacIntyre

In an extraordinary interview with Donal MacIntytre for BBC Radio 5 Live on Sunday 11 October, a former Royal Military Police (RMP) investigator claims there are hundreds of cases of abuse by British soldiers, involving death and serious injury, of Iraqi civilians which have never been dealt with or have been covered up. He claims the interests of the military are taking precedence over the interests of justice and that the Royal Military Police are out of their depth in Iraq.

Describing the allegations of abuse the former RMP investigator says: “I’ve seen documentary evidence that there were incidents running into the hundreds involving death and serious injury to Iraqis where the chain of command of the army had decided that the circumstances did not warrant a Royal Military Police investigation… and it’s of great concern that amongst those there will have been undoubtedly some very suspicious deaths and serious injuries that were never properly investigated.” He also says: “the interests of justice [are] being pushed to one side in order to serve the interests of the chain of command of the Royal Military Police and the wider army.”

He adds the military chain of command make it difficult for the RMP to operate independently by not providing resources or denying access to prevent investigations; claiming investigators who don’t toe the party line would be overlooked for promotion and receive an “adverse report”.

Talking about the Baha Mousa case, an Iraqi civilian whose death in British custody is currently the subject of a public enquiry, he says: “[it] was a murder investigation on a plate… and amazingly this investigation was closed down or put in the waiting tray for a whole year.”

He says: “the whole system of military justice is flawed… and there is a very high risk that there are other Baha Mousa’s out there because of the number of incidents that were not investigated… at all by the Royal Military Police, let alone an ineffective investigation.”

When asked about his reasons for speaking out about alleged malpractice and why he left the Military Police, he replies: “I feel that I belonged for too long to an organisation that wasn’t seeking out the truth… I believe that I was serving in something that was party to covering up quite serious allegations of torture and murder… and other investigations where the consequences could have been quite serious for the suspects, and where there are large numbers of victims, who have not received justice either.”

In a statement responding to the allegations, the Ministry of Defence denied that there is evidence of systemic failure or interference within the RMP: “The RMP is subject to regular and exhaustive inspection by national bodies such as the Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary. This provides the assurance that the RMP has the capability, capacity and competence to conduct investigations into serious crime. We must also remember that over a hundred thousand of our personnel served in Iraq and, with the exception of a few individuals, they have performed to the highest standards under extraordinarily testing conditions there.”