Police probe Porton Down poison death
http://www.lineone.net/express/99/08/20/news/n0820police-d.html
BY ALUN REES

THE top-secret Porton Down biological warfare base was yesterday at the centre of a police manslaughter investigation over the death of a soldier in a nerve-gas experiment.

Human guinea pig Ronald Maddison died when a nerve chemical was dripped on to uniform material taped to his arm at the Ministry of Defence research centre 46 years ago.

Now the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised an investigation by Wiltshire police into a possible case of "corporate manslaughter". It is the first criminal investigation into the workings of Porton Down, the Salisbury Plain establishment which has been cloaked in secrecy for decades.

Mr Maddison died when he was subjected to 200mg of the nerve agent in 1953.

Now another serviceman, Gordon Bell, 61, who says he was also used as a guinea pig at the centre and has suffered skin problems, claims he and many more were duped into the trials by being asked to volunteer for research into the common cold.

Mr Bell insists he actually took part in nerve-gas trials with the deadly agent Sarin.

This was the gas used in the 1995 Tokyo subway attack and by Saddam Hussein in his [alleged] infamous attacks on Kurdish villages.

Mr Bell declared: "A tiny dose of Sarin can kill and Mr Maddison was given 200 times that amount. They say he had a skin condition but it was a lethal dose they gave him to determine one thing - how much Sarin does it take to kill a man through his uniform. What I have found indicates Mr Maddison was killed deliberately. He didn't know what they were doing to him. He thought they were carrying out common cold research."

Supt Gerry Luckett, who is leading the inquiry, confirmed that a full investigation will take place.

He said: "Police will investigate allegations by Gordon Bell concerning his time at Porton Down and the matter of Ronald Maddison."

Mr Bell, who lives in Canada, said: "This is what I have been waiting for. I want them to look at all aspects of Mr Maddison's death. Their investigations will uncover a lot more."

Mr Bell fears that more people may have died years later as a result of the tests.

He said: "I should have gone to the police a long time ago but I came up against Crown Immunity which stops civil action against the Ministry of Defence. I figured it would be a waste of time.

"I will be concerned if police are not allowed to see documents. What was a matter of national security then is not relevant now."

Mr Bell added: "I want all the others who took part in tests at Porton Down to have justice. I want people brought to account - those that are still around. I don't care how old they are. Crimes should not diminish with age."

Porton Down said it was happy to give police access to its archives.

Mr Bell is now to repeat a plea to Prime Minister Tony Blair for a public inquiry into the centre.

He also wants police to probe the inquest into Mr Maddison's death. It was held in camera and details are still secret.

Mr Bell said: "I came back to England in 1996 and was shocked to read an article about an RAF serviceman who claimed he was suffering from a inexplicable skin condition the same as mine.

"There has been a huge cover-up, not just by the research centre but by politicians as well."

Mr Bell, a former RAF radar operator, received two shillings an experiment in 1959 for what he believed was common cold research.

But in 1996, after returning to Sunderland from Canada, Mr Bell learned no such research was ever carried out at Porton Down.

Last year the then Armed Forces Minister John Reid refused to acknowledge the Defence Ministry had deceived servicemen into taking part in the tests.More than 300 servicemen claim disabilities, including skin and eye disorders, breathing problems, liver and kidney complaints and depression can be traced to experiments in nerve gas, radiation, poison, and LSD.

    US researchers did these same things and more and had trouble doing it to US soldiers so they moved to natives in the jungles of the Amazon and in Panama.   The US experiments also used natives in US nuke tests for close in effects studies.