MoD spies on soldiers to check injury claims
The Ministry of Defence has come under fire after admitting to spying on wounded British soldiers claiming for damages for their injuries.
Since 2000, 284 claims have been secretly monitored in an attempt to stop false or exaggerated claims. The MoD has defended its actions, stating that the surveillance “is used in less than 1% of cases and should be of no concern to individuals with a legitimate claim.”
The MoD affirmed that the tactics have already found and stopped a number of fraudulent claims, although the exact number has not been made public.
In the past week, the solicitors representing all of the servicemen and women currently seeking compensation have received letters from the MoD warning that claims may be “investigated thoroughly,” with assessment “undertaken covertly by surveillance when necessary.”
Diane Dernie, the mother of Ben Parkinson, a paratrooper who was badly injured in Afghanistan, said she can “barely believe it.”
“We are talking about young men who are terribly maimed,” she said. “I’ve seen these people make incredible efforts to get well again, yet the MoD is treating them as potential fraudsters – and for what? To save a few quid on what must be a microscopic number of claims which are exaggerated.”