Former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner avoids jail over fraud linked to cases against British soldiers

10 December 2024, 16:03

A former human rights lawyer has been spared jail over fraud charges linked to false abuse claims made against British troops in Iraq.

Phil Shiner was struck off as a solicitor in 2017 at a tribunal after being found guilty of misconduct and dishonesty relating to false claims against veterans of the Iraq War.

The 67-year-old was given a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years for three counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, after previously admitting that an agent acting on his behalf had been cold-calling potential clients in Iraq.

Judge Christopher Hehir said "although there was obvious dishonesty", he did not think the former lawyer was "motivated by personal greed".

Sentencing Shiner, who was the principal solicitor of the law firm Public Interest Lawyers, Judge Hehir said: "He got carried away with enthusiasm by his client's cause and his judgement suffered as a result."

Richard Thomas KC, mitigating, said Shiner had "suffered professional ruin".

Shiner had made an application to the Legal Services Commission in 2007 in which he sought up to £200,000 of legal aid funding for his firm to represent clients including Khuder Al-Sweady, in an application for judicial review.

According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), he received around £3 million in the value of the contract, and the ensuing Al-Sweady inquiry into allegations of mistreatment and unlawful killing of Iraqi nationals by British troops cost the taxpayer £24 million.

The inquiry found that Mr Al-Sweady's nephew, Hamid Al-Sweady, had been killed "outright" whilst fighting, and had been a "willing and active" participant in an attack on British forces. It concluded that the most serious claims of murder and torture were "entirely false" and the product of "deliberate lies".

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During sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Hehir told the court: "The defendant isn't being sentenced for anything that happened at the Al-Sweady inquiry, nor can it be said the judicial proceedings of the Al-Sweady inquiry in any sense represent harm.

"They were part of a judicial process that in the end led to some very firm conclusions."

In making his application to the Legal Services Commission, Shiner failed to disclose that an agent acting on his behalf and with his knowledge had been cold-calling and making unsolicited approaches to potential clients in Iraq.

He also failed to disclose that he was paying referral fees, which is not permitted as part of gaining a legal aid contract.