Ex-wife backs solicitor Phil Shiner who was behind 1,000 'vexatious' abuse claims against British soldiers in Iraq saying: 'He was trying to do the right thing'
- EXCLUSIVE: Phil Shiner sued government over criminality claims after invasion
- Independent investigators yesterday dismissed almost all of the allegations
- This was due to the 'low level' of offending and a lack of credible evidence
- But Dr Rachel Cooney today jumped to the defence of her former husband
The ex-wife of a solicitor behind 1,000 'vexatious' abuse claims against British soldiers in Iraq - all but one of which was dropped due to lack of evidence - has today jumped to his defence.
Phil Shiner, who was struck off as a solicitor in 2017, made his name suing the government at tax payers' expense over allegations of criminality committed by British troops following the invasion in 2003.
Today his ex-wife said he had only been trying to do the right thing and had never been motivated by money.

Phil Shiner, the solicitor behind 1,000 'vexatious' abuse claims against British troops, pictured yesterday leaving his Birmingham home yesterday

More than 3,500 allegations against UK forces between 2003 and 2009 have already been dismissed by taxpayer-funded probes, pictured here, British soldiers under attack by petrol bombers in Basra in March 2004


Dr Rachel Cooney, pictured left, told MailOnline she still thinks Mr Shiner, pictured right, believed in what he was doing
But yesterday it emerged that independent investigators have since dismissed almost all of those allegations due to the 'low level' of offending and a lack of credible evidence.
And the director of the Service Prosecution Authority, Andrew Cayley, told BBC Radio 4's Law in Action programme that it was 'quite possible' the accusations will ultimately result in zero prosecutions.
The 63-year-old father-of-five looked strained as he left his home wearing a black Nike tracksuit top and shorts in a smart street in the Selly Park area of Birmingham yesterday.
When MailOnline visited Mr Shiner at his £300,000 property, a four-bedroom, Edwardian end-terrace, close to Birmingham's famous Edgbaston cricket ground, he said: 'I have no comment to make.'
With his head now shaven, but still wearing a pair of trade-mark brightly coloured rimmed spectacles, Mr Shiner, who was known as the 'tank chaser', achieved great acclaim when he was named the Law Society's Solicitor of the Year in 2007.
But his downfall can be traced to a news conference only a year later in February 2008 where he alleged that the Army had unlawfully killed, tortured and mistreated innocent civilians during a clash known as the Battle of Danny Boy in Iraq in 2004.
This paved the way for a public inquiry and in December 2014 a judge concluded the allegations were 'wholly and entirely without merit'.
The Ministry of Defence then passed a damning dossier on Mr Shiner's firm, Public Interest Lawyers, to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority and he was struck off in February 2017 for professional misconduct for his role in drumming up cases against troops.
The human rights lawyer was found to have been dishonest in falsely accusing soldiers of war crimes.
His firm, which closed in 2016, made more that £1.6 million pursuing unfounded claims against servicemen, which ultimately cost the public purse £31 million to investigate.
Today Mr Shiner's ex-wife, Dr Rachel Cooney, 47, a hospital consultant, told MailOnline she still thinks he believed in what he was doing.
'His intentions were good when he took those cases,' she said on the doorstep of her £500,000 home, which is located less than a mile from her former partner's home.
'It has been very difficult. In my opinion, he did not do it for the money. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do.'
Allegations of criminality during the Iraq war have taken a heavy toll on those who were wrongly accused.
Former troops have previously said their reputations have been tarnished and their relatives have suffered years of anguish due to the allegations.
Ex-corporal Brian Wood received won a Military Cross for his bravery during a bloody firefight in the Battle of Danny Boy in Iraq in 2004.
In 2014, he said: 'We have been dragged through five years of hell. That in my view is a betrayal of our service. We did what we had to do as soldiers and we did the right thing.'
Ex-corporal Wood and his comrades fought for five hours on open ground in one of the most intense battles since the Falklands conflict in 1982.
In the battle, 28 insurgents were killed and nine militants were taken to the Camp Abu Naji military base where they were questioned. But the detainees claimed they were subjected to torture and witnessed executions.
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