Ministry of Defence explanations for failing to track down two ex-servicemen in a civil action over alleged torture techniques used by soldiers in Northern Ireland are \u201can absolute load of nonsense\u201d, a High Court judge declared on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

M<\/span>r Justice McAlinden said it was an \u201cinsult\u201d to claim the key witnesses\u2019 current whereabouts have yet to be established because files were inaccessible during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The blistering assessment came as a lawsuit brought by the last man in Northern Ireland to be handed the death penalty was put back to next year.<\/p>\n

Liam Holden\u00a0(68)\u00a0was sentenced to hang for the killing of a British soldier in west Belfast in 1972.<\/p>\n

The death penalty was commuted to life in prison before a 40-year fight to clear his name resulted in his murder conviction being quashed in 2012.<\/p>\n

Mr Holden, a widowed father-of-two, maintains that the military subjected him to deep interrogation methods, including waterboarding and death threats, in order to extract a false confession for the shooting of Private Frank Bell.<\/p>\n

He is now seeking damages from the MoD for alleged torture and misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

A nine-day civil trial was scheduled to begin next week at the High Court in Belfast.<\/p>\n

But counsel for the MoD applied for an adjournment on Wednesday as efforts continue to locate two soldiers who were allegedly directly involved in events at the time.<\/p>\n

Citing administrative problems due to the pandemic, he said the pair have to be traced before it can be established if they are willing to cooperate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tracking down of witnesses from 50 years ago has proved to be even more difficult than it ordinarily would be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Holden\u2019s barrister, Brian Fee QC, argued that allegations his client was subjected to waterboarding techniques have been known for years.<\/p>\n

Opposing the bid to put the case back, he claimed the defendant had behaved \u201cvery poorly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Backing that assessment, Mr Justice McAlinden said: \u201cI don\u2019t accept for one minute, and I think it\u2019s actually insulting to the court, for a party with the resources of the MoD to come up with what I regard as an absolute load of nonsense in relation to not being able to access a file during Covid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as if the MoD building in London or wherever it is was basically shut down during Covid and nobody was in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stressing the trial date was set last September, the judge was equally critical about the difficulties being raised a week before the hearing.<\/p>\n

He labelled the MoD\u2019s reasons for seeking to put the case back as \u201cvery poor and shoddy\u201d, with \u201cthe most flimsy of excuses\u201d for why the inquiries were not carried out sooner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows a lack of integrity on the part of those involved in that organisation in relation to the conduct of this litigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put those terms in a measured, but forceful form to ensure the message gets out that this type of behaviour on the part of a government organisation will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

But describing the court as \u201chamstrung\u201d, he reluctantly granted the adjournment application to ensure justice is done.<\/p>\n

With the case re-listed for January next year, the judge imposed a four-week deadline for tracking down the ex-soldiers.<\/p>\n

He told counsel: \u201cYou have 28 days to locate the two witnesses that your client intends to approach about this matter and to confirm availability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Belfast Telegraph<\/p>\n

26th May 2021<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge brands Ministry of Defence\u2019s explanation for its failure to track down ex-servicemen \u2018a load of nonsense\u2019 Liam Holden is seeking damages from the MoD for alleged torture and misconduct in public office Alan Erwin May 26 2021 05:25 PM Ministry of Defence explanations for failing to track down two ex-servicemen in a civil action…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,69],"tags":[198,197],"class_list":["post-37502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-latest-news","tag-holden","tag-liam","category-71","category-69","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\n