AN Iraq war veteran who was unlawfully arrested and detained has said it is for Labour to “scrutinise” whether Keir Starmer should remain as Prime Minister.
Speaking on GB News, Rachel Webster said: “It’s deeply distressing and I’m really shocked to hear it, which is evident across the whole of the veteran community.
“At six o’clock in the morning on the 10th January 2014 I was woken up by a knock on the front door. I was arrested. I was forcibly taken out of my home in the Isle of Dogs in Canary Wharf, and then I was driven to an undisclosed location, which turned out to be a detention centre in Portsmouth Navy base.
“During my arrest, I was handcuffed. I was forced down into my bed. I recall one of the arresting officers saying to me that if I behaved myself, he’d take the handcuffs off me before I went out into the street.
“I was then undressed. I had my dressing gown on. I had to get dressed in front of two female Navy ratings, and then I was subjected to a four hour drive down to Portsmouth.
“And during that journey down, obviously, because of the time, when I was awoken at 6am, hadn’t even brushed my teeth or gone to the bathroom. I had no water. I’d asked numerous occasions for them to stop, to let me go to the service station, to go to the toilet, which I was denied.
“And four hours later I arrived at the detention centre in Portsmouth, where the custody sergeant major processed me, I believe reluctantly. I was held there for 14 hours questioned by investigators about a colleague that I had nothing of an evidential nature to say.
“They thought that I knew something about an ex-colleague and I had nothing of an evidential nature to give them. They had contacted me earlier on in the year in October and asked me to give a statement against a certain individual, and I said I have got nothing to say.
“And they said, Well, we can force you. And I said, Well, that’s a bit strange. And if you do, then I’ll go to a solicitor.
“And then the knock came at six o’clock in the morning on the 10th January. I was held for 14 hours. At the end of that time, I was then released without charge, and I then had to wait a further two years for them to admit unlawful arrest and detention.
“And during that two years, it was the most horrendous time. I didn’t tell my family that I had been arrested, because the first time when you tell somebody you’ve been arrested, they immediately asked, well, what have you done?
“I hadn’t done anything. It was just all illegal.
“And this is not just unique to myself. This is happening still across the United Kingdom, where veterans are being taken out of their homes and investigated and spoken to about issues, incidents that happened during their deployment.
“I do not regret any moment of my military service. I’m very, very proud veteran of 24 years’ service. I did 11 years in total deployed, from Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, two tours of Iraq, two tours of Afghanistan, and numerous tours of Northern Ireland.
“So I’m a very proud veteran, along with all the other veterans I speak for this evening. It’s shameful the way that we have been treated and experiencing, enduring lawfare investigations.
“I think [Keir Starmer] should be held to account for having a position in public office at the same time, he was doing pro bono work for the disgraced Phil Shiner.
“He should be accountable for his actions. I don’t think it’s right or proper for me to say that he should resign or not; that’s for his conscience and for his party to look at and scrutinise.”