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.
Military Cross hero put in dock by 'deliberate lies' of accusers
Former Colour Sergeant Brian Wood was falsely accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners by lawyers.
Mr Wood, 39, was awarded the Military Cross for leading a bayonet charge against insurgents in the Battle of Danny Boy in May 2004.
But the action in southern Iraq later became the subject of the Al-Sweady Inquiry, based on allegations by detainees that up to 20 of them were killed or tortured.
The probe, named after one of the alleged victims, lasted five years – before concluding in December 2014 that the claims were 'reckless speculation' based on 'deliberate lies' made by the accusers.
Form Colour Sergeant Brian Wood, pictured with his family, faced a five-year investigation into allegations of torture which concluded the claims were based on 'reckless speculation' based on 'deliberate lies'
Mr Wood, who at the time of the battle was a lance corporal in the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, has previously described the legal process that he went through as an 'ordeal' and said he was 'just looking forward to getting on with my life' afterwards.
Speaking last night, after it emerged it was 'quite possible' not a single Iraq veteran will be prosecuted, Mr Wood said: 'It is absolutely disgusting that £92million has been wasted on all of this.
'We have been betrayed by the government who sent us on operations. The public now should be asking how much of their taxes have been wasted on this pointless effort.'
Mr Wood, who also served in Afghanistan, has previously spoken of the ordeal he and his comrades have been put through by the probe.
He said: 'It was damaging to a degree of careers, marriage split-ups and also fuelling the fire of PTSD and the trauma that we had seen on the battlefield... just to get these allegations thrown at you is a bitter pill to swallow.
'The allegations were of the highest order – unlawful killing, mutilation and mistreatment of prisoners of war.
'That just did not happen and I just don't know where they got the fuel from.'
British soldiers are pictured in Basra, Iraq, in December 2004. More than 1,000 war crime accusations tabled against British soldiers in Iraq have been dismissed
Several of the allegations brought by Mr Shiner's firm, which have now been dismissed, centred on the Battle of Danny Boy.
The firm brought the vast majority of 3,380 allegations of wrongdoing to the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, which was set up by the government in March 2010 to investigate claims of abuse and torture by British soldiers.
Mr Shiner's firm took on clients for a public inquiry into alleged abuses, but then cut a 'lucrative' deal with another firm, which pursued compensation claims.
Mr Shiner had 12 charges of misconduct found proved against him by the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal, including 'cold-calling' to find potential complainants in Iraq and making payments to alter evidence.
The former lawyer was left with a huge bill owed to the taxpayer, the solicitor's watchdog and others.
Major who's been investigated – and cleared – 8 times in 17 years
Major Robert Campbell has been investigated eight times over the death of an Iraqi 17 years ago.
The decorated soldier, 47, was questioned – and repeatedly cleared – as part of several different probes into the drowning of 19-year-old Said Shabram in Basra in May 2003.
Along with his comrades he first faced questions later that year during a three-year investigation by the Royal Military Police. In 2006 the findings of the inquiry were handed to the Army Prosecuting Authority, who decided not to take the case any further.
Two years later Maj Campbell then found himself under scrutiny from a Ministry of Defence investigation led by Brigadier Robert Aitken. In 2010, for unexplained reasons, the Provost Martial started a new probe.
Major Robert Campbell has been investigated and cleared eight times over the course of 17 years
Around the same time law firm Leigh Day mounted a civil action against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of the teenager's family. They were awarded £100,000, although the MoD did not admit liability for Mr Shabram's death.
Then in 2014 the taxpayer-funded Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) took on the case after being passed the file by the now-defunct Public Interest Lawyers.
After Maj Campbell, who suffers from PTSD, hearing loss and multiple physical injuries, was deemed medically unfit to serve and signed off sick, investigators passed the file to the Service Prosecuting Authority.
In December 2018 it decided no charges should be brought.
But the soldier was then told to give evidence in public to an Iraq Fatality Investigations inquiry to satisfy human rights laws, which is still ongoing.
Maj Campbell handed back his service medals after being told of the eighth probe.
He has accused ministers of using soldiers as 'political fodder'. He said last year: 'None of these ministers or generals were timid about tweeting how much they loved our armed forces, while doing nothing to help us.'
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