Falkland Islands: DPP Investigation (Hansard, 25 March 1993)

§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)
My Lords, a former member of the Parachute Regiment last year published serious criminal allegations about members of the regiment, including conduct amounting to murder. Because of their seriousness, these allegations were drawn to the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate them. The present inquiries are part of that investigation. The director will consider what, if any, action is appropriate once the investigation is completed.

§ Lord Buxton of Alsa
My Lords, I thank my noble and learned friend for that reply. I should like to ask him a further question. Does he agree that there was no request for this inquiry from the Government of the Falkland Islands, from the Argentine Government or from any credible source of substance from within this country? Does my noble and learned friend really believe that a very cheap paperback, based on speculation and hearsay by a soldier who, according to the newspapers (and I am reading from the Daily Mail), is a convicted criminal who has been branded a liar by a judge and has a criminal record which includes cases of dishonesty, should be the basis for launching a long and hugely costly inquiry which would subject the British nation to what I can best describe as "indecent exposure" and which would cause deep distress and outrage to our gallant forces?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, after some preliminary inquiries, the existence of these allegations was brought to the attention of the prosecuting authorities by the Secretary of State for Defence. In the light of the information available, the Director of Public Prosecutions took the view that it was right that these allegations should be investigated. That is what the police are doing.

§ Lord Shackleton
My Lords, there is strong circumstantial evidence that these accusations are 431 without any foundation. We are discussing an area where there was bitter warfare. Violent warfare took place on Mount Longdon in which the paras behaved with great courage. It is inconceivable, on the evidence that is now before us, that this inquiry should take place. However, it will take place but it may not yield a definite answer. Will the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence, ensure that the full story, some of which has appeared in detail in the Daily Mail, will be published abroad?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, the investigation has begun and is proceeding. At this stage I do not think your Lordships would think it right for me to say anything about the detail of that investigation and what has so far emerged. When the investigation is completed, a report will be given to the Director of Public Prosecutions and it will be for the director to decide, in the light of that report, what, if any, further action should be taken. I have no doubt your Lordships will find it possible to seek further information as matters proceed.

§ Lord Chalfont
My Lords, is the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor aware that I returned yesterday from a visit to Argentina where I met members of the government and of the parliament? I discovered that there had been no suggestion of any war crime from Argentina. In Argentina there is a great and universal desire to resume proper relations with Her Majesty's Government and to achieve a proper reconciliation with Her Majesty's Government. Does the noble and learned Lord agree that this kind of operation not only casts a slur upon the activities of the British Forces but also militates against the resumption of proper relations with the Government of Argentina?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, I was not aware, until the noble Lord informed me of it, that he had just returned from Argentina, but I can inform the House that the inquiries have been brought to the attention of the Government of Argentina. That Government have been informed of the developments and they have raised no objection to any necessary inquiries being carried out in Argentina. I speak here for the prosecuting authorities. I am relating the decisions which they have so far taken and describing the inquiries which they have initiated.

§ Lord Richard
My Lords, will the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor confirm that the Argentine Government have made no complaint of war crimes against British personnel who served in the Falkland Islands?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, as I said earlier, these investigations have arisen from allegations made in the publication to which I have referred. I am not aware of any complaint of any kind in this connection having been made by the Government of the Argentine. However, as I have said, the Government of the Argentine have been kept informed of the 432 progress of this investigation and they have raised no objection to inquiries being pursued, if necessary, in the Argentine.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, in view of the distress to which these allegations have given rise, will my noble and learned friend undertake that. just as soon as the inquiry has been carried through, a full Statement will be made to the House?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, I have no doubt that the desire of the Director of Public Prosecutions is that these investigations should be completed as soon as possible. I have no doubt that it would be appropriate that your Lordships should be informed of the decision the director takes in the light of the investigation.

§ Lord Hooson
My Lords, as the allegations have been made worldwide, would it not be much better for the matter to be investigated from the point of view of the good name of this country?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, I believe that when a serious allegation is made in relation to a matter within the jurisdiction of the Director of Public Prosecutions, it is right that the director should take the action that appears to her to be appropriate—in this case, to carry out certain investigations and to invite the Metropolitan Police to undertake those investigations. I believe that that is part of our system of the rule of law and I do not believe your Lordships would wish to prejudge the result of the inquiries until they are completed.

§ Lord Shackleton
My Lords, in view of the fact that the Argentine Foreign Secretary is in this country at the moment and has already stated categorically that no complaints have arisen from the Argentine side, would it be possible for the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor to ask his right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary to ask the Argentine Foreign Secretary what he thinks of this accusation?

§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, it would certainly be possible for me to invite my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Argentina his opinion. However, your Lordships may feel that the better opinion will be the opinion ultimately formed by the Director of Public Prosecutions in the light of the investigation. I do not myself know how much the Argentine Foreign Secretary knows about this matter. On the whole my experience has been that these matters are best investigated in a proper way and the result then published by the director.