Vaggeryds bibliotek

The untold true story of James Edmiston who suffered an extraordinary miscarriage of justice in 1983 when senior officials blocked vital witnesses coming to his trial which led to a personal tragedy; a broken marriage, and the loss of a business.

The book explains how he was wrongly charged with alleged illegal exports to Iraq, and then took on the establishment against seemingly impossible odds for 25 years, to establish his innocence and to win record compensation from the British government in a truly remarkable case. Divorced and bankrupted, he is now rebuilding a shattered life, nearly 30 years later.

In 1993, the Scott Inquiry unearthed serious misconduct by senior officials who colluded to block vital defense witnesses from coming to trial - behavior described by Lord Justice Scott as “disgraceful” and “reprehensible”. Nevertheless, the officials concerned have escaped prosecution and some were even promoted. However, by 1993, it was too late for Edmiston. He had suffered the enforced sale of his successful business, the Sterling Armament Company, the loss of 150 jobs and his town house on the Phillimore Estate Kensington; financial ruin; and divorce in 1990. He believes that there may have been an ulterior motive for the prosecution and he was a pawn in a high-stakes political game.

Determined that the government should acknowledge his innocence and to compensate him and apologize, the case was thought to be impossible. After a successful judicial review against the Home Secretary, the government finally awarded him record compensation in August 2008 but without an apology.

The Arms to Iraq affair has come to stand for many things: lies by government ministers to protect the state; the sacrifice of innocent men facing prison who had been working for MI6; misuse of Public Interest Immunity Certificates (so-called “gagging orders”) to hide government policy on Iraq; diplomatic hypocrisy; and the downfall of the Conservative government in 1997. How did this happen in Britain and could it ever happen again?

This extraordinary story is a fascinating insight into government and the abuse of power and is based on many original sources including the Scott Report and Judgment of the Court of Appeal (criminal). The co-author, Lawrence Kormornick, is a Solicitor-Advocate (civil) who has represented Edmiston and several other victims of the Arms-to-Iraq prosecution scandal against the government and has a unique insight into these cases.

Packed with ironies, twists of fate and many unanswered questions it is a compelling read for anyone interested in political intrigue and abuse of power, miscarriage of justice and learning about how an individual took on the state and won.