"I just want justice for my family."
Those were the moving words of a nuclear test veteran from Rochdale who found his son dead in a cot more than 60 years ago. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister became the first in history to sit down with victims of the Cold War radiation experiment as he vowed to investigate the scandal.
In a sit down meeting on Wednesday (June 8), victims had the chance to tell Boris Johnson about early deaths, government cover-ups, and hereditary illness - as the Mirror showed him evidence of possible crimes committed by the state against its own servicemen.
And one of those was John Morris, 84, from Rochdale. He witnessed four nuclear bombs in 1957 and later found his son, Steven, dead in his cot at just four months old. It took him six decades to get the autopsy report, which later revealed he had deformed lungs.
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After being presented with evidence of missing medical records, with blood samples taken but hidden from health archives, the PM agreed it could amount to a criminal offence committed against veterans. He told the Mirror : "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Everybody I've heard from, thank you for your testimony. It's especially heart-rending to listen to what you have to say."
John banged the table in the Prime Minister's office in Parliament as he said: "We protected this country by providing the nuclear deterrent, but we've been let down by successive governments. My wife and I were arrested on suspicion of murder, and I've had a lifetime of worry and illness. I had blood and urine taken which his not in my medical records, and I've been refused a war pension."
Holding back tears, the 84-year-olds voice broke as he added: "I just want justice for my family, and for Steven." The visibly-moved PM responded: "I'm so sorry, so, so sorry for your loss. You need a much better picture of what on Earth is going on."
The 40-minute meeting also heard from other victims, including Steve Purse, whose father David was in control of the airfield at Maralinga in South Australia, where the UK government conducted 593 experiments on radioactive triggers over a decade. Steve was born with un-diagnosable medical conditions.
The PM and his advisers, including top civil servants and Veterans Minister Leo Docherty, also heard from Laura Jackson, 56, of Cheltenham, who had three cancers removed from her face, a heart attack, and miscarriages. And her brother Alan Owen, of campaign group Labrats, told the PM how he had also "died" from a heart attack nine weeks ago, and was now being kept alive by an internal defibrillator.
The Mirror showed the PM evidence of wives and children being sent to nuke-blasted Christmas Island on a morale-boosting trip, mothers and daughters with dozens of miscarriages, and told him how infant mortality among veterans' children is five times the norm.
The meeting ended with John telling the PM: "It's the Queen's Jubilee, and the 70th anniversary this October of the first nuclear bomb test. It's the ideal moment, Prime Minister, for you to look me in the eye and tell me, 'you deserve a medal'. Or say, 'sod off'." John's granddaughter Laura, 32, of Salford, then told the PM he must decide soon "because veterans are dying, every day, without justice".
Mr Johnson was given a deadline of October to resolve the issue, and told campaigners he and his team would get working on it straight away.
"You've produced all sorts of evidence that seem to be more than likely, and we need to come back to you," he said. "I was very surprised to hear when this was raised that something hadn't been done for you before."
The meeting was organised after Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour MP for Salford and Eccles, asked the PM to meet her and the veterans. She said: "The PM seemed to be appalled at what we told him, and I think genuinely shocked by what's happened to these men and their families.
"Now we need to make sure he does deliver the justice he promised us, and to have that moment of national recognition and acknowledgement to end this scandal once and for all."
She added: "Beyond this I also hope the PM recognises the real need for research for descendants, financial and medical support for veterans and their families, war pension reform and education."
She invited Sir John Hayes, Tory MP for South Holland and The Deepings, to attend as patron of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association. He told the PM a medal "was just the right thing to do". Afterwards he said: "The PM heard the cause of the veterans. I have great faith that he will now do the right thing for them."
Shadow Defence Procurement Minister Chris Evans also promised that Labour would make sure the PM kept his promise. "We need to keep the pressure up as we approach the anniversary. It would be absolutely wonderful if we can strike a medal for them, release those medical records, and justice can finally be served to these brave men, and their families."
The meeting followed a year-long Mirror campaign in which veterans demanded the PM ‘Look Me In The Eye’ after they were refused a medal three times on the grounds there was no "risk and rigour" to the testing programme. The Mirror has campaigned for justice for the nuclear veterans since 1983, and in 2018 won a medal review and fresh research after a meeting with then-Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.
The research reported back this February that men who served at the tests were 3.7 times more like to develop chronic myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer linked to radiation.
