Veteran wins payout for stress
An army veteran has been awarded £620,000 from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for stress sustained during tours in Northern Ireland.
Malcolm New, a former Royal Welch Fusiliers’ colour sergeant from Llandudno, claimed the MoD had failed to recognise and treat his conflict-related post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Mr New’s case, which the MoD disputed, is believed to be the first such case won by a former or serving member of the British armed forces.
It follows a decision in 2002 by the same judge, Mr Justice Owen, that the army should have detected a psychiatric disorder during Mr New’s fifth tour of Northern Ireland and should have referred him to treatment.
“This was never about money, it was about recognition for all who have served Queen and country,” Mr New said following today’s ruling.
At the High Court in London, the judge said the 46-year-old veteran, who was given the British Empire Medal in 1990 for “outstanding leadership”, was a “shadow of his former self”.
Mr New’s QC argued that if he had been treated properly after a fifth tour of Ulster in 1993, he would have been fit enough to continue serving to the maximum 24 years in the army.
As it was, he was discharged from the army in 1994 and it was not until 1997 that he saw a psychiatrist, who diagnosed him with PTSD.
Robert Jay QC, for the MoD, had argued that while Mr New was clearly an “outstanding” soldier he carried a number of “risk factors” from childhood that made him vulnerable to psychiatric illness.
In a statement following today’s ruling, the MoD said: “The MoD recognises PTSD as a serious and disabling condition.
“Clearly in [these] cases there were failings, which the MoD very much regrets and will work to ensure they are not repeated. However, these are very much isolated cases which turned on their own individual facts and not on any systemic failures by the MoD.”
