Bolton West MP Chris Green has welcomed news that the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) is to close in a matter of months.
The team was set up to review and investigate allegations of abuse by Iraqi civilians by UK armed forces personnel in Iraq between 2003 and 2009.
No successful prosecutions have yet been brought by Ihat in seven years – the only successful conviction to date is of an Ihat investigator who falsely impersonated a police officer in the course of his inquiries.
Last month, disgraced lawyer Phil Shiner was also struck off after generating criminal cases against veterans ‘on an industrial scale’, bringing false claims of murder, torture and mistreatment against thousands of soldiers.
Chris said: “The news that this witch hunt against British troops is finally coming to an end is very welcome news.
“This will end a nightmare decade for British members of the armed forces. I’m pleased that Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, has made it clear that these ambulance-chasing lawyers will no longer be able to bring thousands of spurious claims against our troops.”