Shamed lawyer Phil Shiner labelled 'modern day traitor'

An Army hero has expressed his outrage after disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner avoided jail yesterday as he was sentenced for a £200,000 fraud.

Former Law Society 'Solicitor of the Year' Shiner had sparked a £24million inquiry into alleged wrongdoing by British soldiers in Iraq, who his clients claimed had beaten and killed 'innocent farmers' during the occupation after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

But campaigning journalism by the Daily Mail helped reveal that 'corrupt' Shiner, 67, had paid agents to 'cold-call' potential claimants in Iraq - and the claims they made were eventually found to be false.

Some wrongly accused soldiers were investigated eight times however, and even attempted suicide, before being ultimately cleared.

And it took more than a decade for the downfall of flamboyant Shiner to finally begin.

In 2017 he was stuck off as a solicitor for dishonesty and misconduct, in September this year he admitted three counts of fraud - and today he was finally sentenced at London's Southwark crown court.

To the dismay of his Army victims however, the two year prison sentence he was given was suspended for two years.

One, ex Royal Engineer Major Robert Campbell, said 'he should have gone to jail'. 

The 51-year-old decorated Major, who served in Iraq, told The Sun: 'This is a man who tortured me and others.'

He was vexatiously accused of drowning an Iraqi teenager at the time of the Anglo-US invasion but was cleared of any wrongdoing following a 17-year witch-hunt.

The hero was for years investigated on bogus claims that he forced suspected looter Saeed Radhi Shabram Wawi Al-Bazooni, 19, into a river at gunpoint in Basra in May 2003.

The hero was for years investigated on bogus claims that he forced suspected looter Saeed Radhi Shabram Wawi Al-Bazooni, 19, into a river at gunpoint in Basra in May 2003.

Eyewitnesses had claimed that Maj Campbell and colleagues from the 32 Royal Engineer Regiment caused Saeed Shabram's death after he slipped below the water and failed to resurface.

The incident sparked an inquiry into the British Army hero, who even returned his medals to the Queen in 2018 in disgust at the way he had been treated by the Ministry of Defence.

But a judge ruled in 2020 that the allegations against Maj Campbell were based on lies, collusion on the part of Iraqi civilians and a 'possible conspiracy' to pervert the course of justice.

Meanwhile former Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer labelled Shiner a 'modern day  traitor' who 'destroyed the lives of some of our finest veterans'.

Ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace slammed the sentence as an 'insult'. 

Judge Christopher Hehir said 'although there was obvious dishonesty', he did not think the former lawyer was 'motivated by personal greed' when fraudulently making claims that earned him hundreds of thousands.

Shiner's crimes involved not revealing he had been paying agents to 'cold-call' Iraqis who would claim, without a shred of evidence, to be the victims of atrocities by British soldiers.

'Victims' claiming to be innocent farmers were actually enemy militia thirsty for revenge - and cash.

Shiner's reward was hundreds of thousands in legal fees. Taxpayers, meanwhile, forked out millions.

And the barrister acting for Shiner today, Richard Thomas, KC could do nothing more than make a successful plea for mitigation after his client pleaded guilty in September, saying he had 'suffered professional ruin'.

True to form, Shiner had been bleeding the taxpayer to the end, pleading poverty and claiming legal aid to support his case.

Major Robert Campbell in the Royal Engineers was scrutinised amid eight investigations into the 19-year-old's death, including one for possible manslaughter, before he was ultimately cleared.

In 2020, judge Baroness Hallett decided there was 'no reliable evidence' that Mr Campbell or any British soldier forced Mr Shabram into the water.

Mr Campbell, 51, said: 'We were investigated eight times because Phil Shiner just kept lying and lying and lying.

'He duped the Ministry of Defence, he duped human rights groups, he duped the legal aid authority, he duped the BBC and he duped the legal establishment glitterati into thinking he was on some kind of crusade - and he wasn't.'

Key among Shiner's clients was supposedly wronged grieving uncle Khuder Al-Sweady - who claimed British troops killed his nephew Hamid while he was in their custody at Camp Abu Naji following the Battle of Danny Boy near Amarah in Southern Iraq

According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Shiner's firm went on to receive around £3 million, and the ensuing Al-Sweady inquiry into allegations of mistreatment and unlawful killing of Iraqi nationals by British troops cost the taxpayer £24 million.

Yet that costly inquiry ultimately found that Mr Al-Sweady's nephew, Hamid Al-Sweady, had been killed 'outright' whilst fighting as a 'willing and active' participant in an attack on British forces.

It concluded 'beyond all doubt' that the most serious claims of murder and torture pushed by Shiner were 'entirely false' and 'wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility'.

Shiner failed to disclose that an agent acting on his behalf had been cold-calling potential clients in Iraq.

He also failed to disclose that he was paying referral fees for clients obtained.

Neither practice was permitted as part of gaining a legal aid contract, the NCA said.

Shiner was also convicted for providing a witness statement to the Legal Services Commission in support of his application for legal aid funding, which was again gained by an unsolicited approach.

As a result of his failure to disclose this information, Shiner was able to gain a 'valuable legal aid contract' to enable him to pursue the judicial review', the NCA said.

The Al-Swedy case and the linked case of Hussain Fadhil Abbas alone gained Shine £200,000.

Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman Sian Mitchell said last night: 'Shiner defrauded a statutory legal body for his own selfish motives.

'The National Crime Agency and the CPS worked closely to bring this corrupt lawyer to justice.

'The CPS will now commence confiscation proceedings in order to reclaim the proceeds of the defendant's fraud.'