Lawyer Phil Shiner who was struck off after hounding British soldiers with false murder and torture claims is charged with fraud
- Phil Shiner, 65, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court over the charges
- The charges come after a five-year investigation by the National Crime Agency
- The Birmingham lawyer brought several cases against British veterans of Iraq
- He was struck off as a solicitor in 2017 for pursuing false allegations
Former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner is facing fraud charges linked to claims made against Iraq War veterans.
Mr Shiner, from Birmingham, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 27 to face three counts of fraud.
The charges follow a five-year investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
The 65-year-old was struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2017 for pursuing false torture and murder allegations against British troops.
Mr Shiner had 12 charges of misconduct proved against him by an SRA panel.
An NCA spokesman said: 'Following an NCA investigation and CPS authorisation, Philip Shiner, 65 from Birmingham, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday to answer charges in respect of fraud offences relating to legal aid claims made in 2007 and information provided to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2015.'
Phil Shiner, 65, (pictured in 2020) is facing two charges of dishonestly failing to disclose information
Mr Shiner is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday June 27 to face the charges
British soldiers pictured in Basra, Iraq. British troops were stationed in Iraq from 2003 to 2011
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WHO IS PHIL SHINER?
- Philip Joseph Shiner was born in a semi-detached home in Coventry on Christmas Day 1956. He was the second of four children of Peter Shiner, a draughtsman, and his wife, Patricia, a teacher.
- He started work for a firm dealing with insurance claims but found it dull. He joined a practice focusing on environmental law.
- For a time, he worked for the Birkenhead Labour MP Frank Field.
- In 1999, shortly before the Human Rights Act came into force, he set up PIL in Birmingham.
- He has fought many battles for the Left's celebrated causes, including acting for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
- Shiner forged strong links with Matrix Chambers, the legal home of Cherie Booth QC, the wife of Tony Blair.
- In 2004, he was awarded Human Rights Lawyer of the Year by Liberty.
- Mr Shiner, who has been married twice and has five children, claims Catholicism remains an essential part of his life and most years he attends a religious retreat on Iona
Shiner is alleged to have committed fraud by false representation in April 2015 in response to a question from the SRA, which he 'knew was untrue and misleading', so he could continue to practise as a solicitor, according to court papers.
He was allegedly 'engaged in the cold calling of clients in Iraq in relation to alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by British Army personnel at the battle of "Danny Boy".'
Claims were made against British soldiers who took part in the 'Danny Boy' battle and were ordered to take the bodies of Iraqi dead from the battlefield and back to a nearby camp, along with nine prisoners of war.
The detainees, part of the Shia militia Mahdi Army, claimed they had been mistreated and heard the torture and murder of their compatriots.
Among the dead was 19-year-old Hamid Al-Sweady, who gave his name to a public inquiry after his uncle Khuder Al-Sweady claimed he had been murdered at the British camp.
Shiner is facing two charges of dishonestly failing to disclose information relating to Khuder Al-Sweady's legal aid claim over an application for a judicial review of the Ministry of Defence decision not to hold an independent inquiry into his nephew's death.
Between September 18 and 20, 2007, Shiner is alleged to have failed to disclose that he 'had been engaging in cold calling and the payment of referral fees'.
And in a letter challenging the decision to refuse funding of the legal aid application, between October 11 and 13 2007, he is said to have enclosed a statement that 'had been obtained through cold calling'.
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