Porton Down Veterans 'offered cash'

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The BBC claim £3 million is to be made available to compensate victims of chemical testing at the site near Salisbury, in Wiltshire.

The ex-servicemen claim they were tricked into taking part in what they were led to believe were cold remedy tests at the research centre in the 1950s and 1960s.

An MoD spokeswoman confirmed mediation between their solicitors and the veterans was ongoing but said it would be inappropriate to go into details because the legal process remained active.

The spokeswoman said: "The Porton Down Veterans are represented by their solicitors who liaise with our solicitors on behalf of the group - there is no question of the MoD putting pressure on the veterans to accept any settlement.

"The issue of whether any mediated settlement would be acceptable to the veterans is entirely a matter between the veterans and their solicitors.

"The parties are engaged in a mediation process which is not yet concluded. The details of which are confidential. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

"However, at no stage in the mediation process did the MoD offer to make an oral statement to the House of Commons and nor did we withdraw an offer to make an apology."

The BBC quoted veteran Derek Shenton, from Hampshire, who said although he had accepted the deal, the MoD was still refusing to pay out because others included in the group claim had refused to sign the agreement.

He said: "There was very high pressure to sign - threats basically: 'Take it or leave it'. But once the Ministry of Defence got my signature, they came back and said 'because there's these various people who have decided to go missing, we are not going to pay you until we have got their signatures'."