From AAP

24jan02

AUSTRALIAN ex-servicemen could sue Britain for injuries suffered 50 years ago after a London high court judge ruled that a law barring legal action infringed human rights.

Mr Justice Keith ruled that the 1947 law which prohibited legal claims by veterans against Britain's Ministry of Defence clashed with the Human Rights Act, which guaranteed the right to a fair hearing.

The judge made the ruling when he allowed a claim by former Royal Navy engineer Alan Matthews, who alleged he had developed an asbestos-related disease during his service from 1955 to 1968, to go ahead.

The ruling opens the way for Australian and British servicemen who claim to have suffered a variety of cancers and other illnesses after radiation exposure during Britain's nuclear testing in Australia and Christmas Island in the 1950s to take their cases to court.

Servicemen won the right to sue the MoD in 1987, but only for claims dating from that time.

Justice Keith's ruling could now lead to thousands of claims, dating from 1947 and 1987, by ex-servicemen or by the families of those killed.

London's Metropolitan police is currently investigating claims from British widow Shirley Denson that her husband was forced to fly his plane through mushroom clouds following a nuclear test blast on Christmas Island in 1958.

Squadron leader Eric Denson suffered a string of physical and psychological illnesses before committing suicide in 1976.

If police decide the MoD has a case to answer in court, it would set a precedent for thousands of other claims, although Justice Keith has already dismantled one of the biggest hurdles.

More than 22,000 British, 14,000 Australian and 500 New Zealand servicemen were involved in 21 nuclear explosions at Maralinga in South Australia and several Pacific islands from 1952 to 1958.

The Australian Government has already paid out $3.4 million in compensation.

The MoD said it would appeal Justice Keith's ruling which also has ramifications for British veterans of the Falklands and pre-1987 service in Northern Ireland.