British Cold War nuclear test veterans claim MOD is hiding some of their medical records
It’s been more than six decades since John Morris served on Christmas Island in the South Pacific where the British government tested nuclear weapons.
The 86-year-old has seen other members of his unit die since then, due to various conditions, including blood disorders and cancers. Some lost children or had children born with defects.
He has also had cancer and was diagnosed with pernicious anaemia in his twenties. After Christmas Island, Mr Morris went on to have children, but his son died when he was only four months old, it’s thought his lungs didn’t develop properly.
“The flashbacks I get sometimes are horrific of picking my child up out of his cot. They are unbelievably live in my head.”
Mr Morris has always felt guilty, he believes his son’s death was a result of a genetic defect caused by nuclear radiation that he was exposed to.
“I was there for [the testing of] four atomic bombs. The nearest was 20 miles away. And I had a pair of shorts, a shirt on and sunglasses. It was like sitting in the centre of the sun.”
Mr Morris has spent decades campaigning for recognition of the sacrifices that he, and other men, made for Britain’s efforts to secure nuclear weapons.
John Morris witnessed nuclear tests on Christmas Island
Medical records ‘missing in certain items’
More than 20,000 British servicemen took part in hundreds of Cold War weapons tests in Australia and the South Pacific. None of them have ever received compensation for the illnesses they believe were caused by radiation.
Now he wants to expose the truth about the physical toll he believes their service has taken.
“I have been requesting for many, many years my medical records and I have received them, but they appear to be changed or they appear to be somewhat missing in certain items,” said Mr Morris.
“I know for a fact that I had urine and blood samples taken and they were not recorded. But the MOD [Ministry of Defence] suggests they were never taken. Now I can almost give them the dates that my blood was taken because I was in an isolation hospital.”
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Cold War nuclear tests made it rain more in the UK
Mr Morris and other veterans are suing the government in order to provide their complete medical files. Oli Troen, one of the lawyers working with them, says when veterans have requested medical information it has often come back as missing or incomplete.
“We’ve uncovered over 200 archive documents which clearly show that the veterans were required to be tested for both blood and urine samples, both before they went out to the South Pacific to engage in the nuclear testing, whilst they were there and when they came back… if those tests were done where are they now?” said Mr Troen.
“It’s not simply enough for the MOD to say ‘sorry we don’t have these records’. We need to know why they don’t have them, where they are and who lost them.”
‘What are they hiding?‘
Steve Purse’s father David served at Maralinga, Australia where tests were carried out
Steve Purse’s father David ran an airfield in Maralinga, Australia where nuclear weapons tests were carried out. Mr Purse, 49, was born with a series of disabilities and uses a wheelchair because he has stunted limbs. He believes his father’s exposure to radiation caused his conditions.
“I had an email just this week from the RAF [Royal Air Force] saying yes the MOD search has found the information you require but no you can’t have it, and they’re quoting some law about confidentiality… What are they hiding?
“It’s as if they know that what dad was exposed to probably caused my condition and they just don’t want me to have it,” he said.
“I always said that I would never have children. I didn’t want to pass this on. And then I got married and we had a little boy. He’s lovely. But he has a condition in his teeth and a lot of descendants [of nuclear veterans] report teeth problems.
“So my fear is that yes I’ve passed something onto him. Did I play genetic Russian roulette with his life?”
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: “We are grateful to all service personnel who participated in the British nuclear testing programme and contributed to keeping our nation secure and are pleased that they will now be receiving a medal in recognition of this.
“It remains the case that no information is withheld from veterans and any medical records taken either before, during or after participation in the UK nuclear weapon tests are held in individual military medical records in the government’s archives, which can be accessed on request.”
Three brothers have been jailed after underage girls in Leeds and Barrow-in-Furness were sexually abused and raped over a number of years.
The trio were convicted in October last year, with the abuse taking place between 1996 and 2010.
Shaha Amran Miah, 49, known as Jai; Shaha Alman Miah, 47, known as Ali; and Shah Joman Miah, 38, known as Sarj all pleaded not guilty.
Sarj has since admitted his crimes. However, the judge said it could be a cynical attempt for leniency and did not give him any credit.
Shaha Amran Miah, Shaha Joman Miah and Shaha Alman Miah. Pic: Cumbria Police
They were sentenced on Friday to the following:
Shaha Amran Miah – life with a minimum term of 20 years and 338 days.
Shaha Alman Miah – 10 years in prison and four years on licence.
Shah Joman Miah – life with a minimum term of 21 years and 232 days.
Preston Crown Court heard Sarj and Jai regularly sexually abused two children at a Leeds mosque over many years, beginning when the victims were seven.
The three also preyed on vulnerable and underage girls at a flat above their family’s takeaway in Barrow, Cumbria, between 2008 and 2010.
They gave them cigarettes, alcohol, food and even hair extensions in what barrister Tim Evans KC called a “classic grooming technique”.
He said the brothers worked as a team and “created an environment in Barrow in which each of them could abuse young girls”.
Judge Unsworth KC said they had shattered the lives of their victims and hid in plain sight in the Cumbria town.
Multiple schoolgirls in their uniforms were regularly seen at the takeaway, the judge said, with Jai acting ruthlessly to stop them going to the police.
The court heard Sarj would take one of the girls to a hotel for sex about twice a month and became increasingly controlling – to the point she remains on medication and is terrified of seeing him in the street.
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A witness told Sky News the men abused their victims in a dingy room above the takeaway that “looked like a crackhouse” and had mattresses on the floor and sheets covering the windows.
“They knew exactly how young they were,” she said. “They didn’t only have one girlfriend each… they had multiple.”
Shaha Amran Miah was found guilty of 16 sexual offences against three girls, including rape, as well as two charges of intimidation and one of kidnap.
Shaha Alman Miah was found guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a child.
Shah Joman Miah was convicted of sexually abusing three children. There were nine counts of rape of a child among his 40 offences.
Apple will no longer offer customers in the UK its most advanced, end-to-end security encryption feature for cloud data – following a security row with the government.
The Advanced Data Protection (ADP) tool is an optional feature which means only account holders can see things like photos or documents that they have stored online. Apple itself does not have access to the data.
However, the UK government reportedly requested the right to see the data earlier this month.
In response, Apple has removed the tool from use in the UK.
The company is switching it off as an option for those not already using it, and will introduce a process to move existing users away from it.
Security officials argue that encryption hinders criminal investigations, while tech firms defend it as essential to user privacy.
The loss of end-to-end encryption for iCloud backup means Apple would be able in some instances to read user data such as iMessages that would otherwise be protected and pass it on to authorities if legally compelled.
However, if a user has end-to-end encryption, Apple cannot read the data under any circumstances.
An Apple store in New York. Pic: iStock
What has Apple said?
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in a statement.
“Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before.
“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom.”
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Apple customers who already had the data protection tool turned on “will eventually need to disable this security feature”, said the company.
It is already unavailable for customers who weren’t using the feature, who now see a message reading: “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.”
What has the UK government said?
The government said it will not confirm or deny whether it requested a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), which is what would give it the right to see the encrypted data.
“We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices,” a Home Office spokesperson told Sky News.
According to a Home Office source, however, even if a TCN was issued, it wouldn’t give the government blanket access to people’s data.
Separate authorisations or warrants would still be required.
What’s the reaction from the tech industry?
Many in the tech industry are shocked by Apple’s move, with Graeme Stewart from cybersecurity company Check Point saying it “is effectively smashing open Pandora’s box and hoping the chaos stays neatly inside”.
“At its heart, encryption isn’t just for criminals; it’s a shield for millions of law-abiding citizens, businesses, and critical infrastructure,” he said.
“Now we are prying open that door to our digital Fort Knox, there’s no telling what else might slip through.”
Apple was also described as “calling the government’s bluff” by Robert Peake who is the technology partner at Keystone Law, for refusing to create a backdoor into its protected data.
“The Government will face increasing pressure to back down on this, as it seriously undermines its recent attempts to portray the UK as a pro-innovation place to operate,” he said.
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