Merseyside nuclear test veterans met up with Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the first time in history.
Victims of the Cold War radiation experiments told the PM about early deaths, government cover-ups, and hereditary illness, the Mirror reports. It comes as part of a campaign in which veterans were refused a medal three times on the grounds there was no "risk and rigour" to the testing programme.
The meeting was organised after Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour MP for Salford and Eccles, asked the PM to meet her and the veterans. The PM 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."
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Veterans came together to share their heart-breaking stories of how they have been "let down" after dedicating their lives to protecting the country.
He heard from John Morris, 84, who was born in Liverpool and who witnessed four nuclear bombs in 1957. He later found his son, Steven, dead in his cot aged just four months.
It took him 60 years to get the autopsy report, which revealed he had deformed lungs. At the meeting 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."
John added: "I just want justice for my family, and for Steven", as the PM replied: "You need a much better picture of what on Earth is going on."
The 40-minute meeting also heard from Steve Purse, born in Birkenhead, 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.
The 48-year-old spoke of safety measures that were little more than a wire fence as he added: "Becoming a dad should be joyful, but at every scan I was terrified. I played genetic roulette.
"My son is healthy now, but I worry about the future, and if he becomes ill I want him to have doctors who know what he has, and how to fix it."
He added: "We want a medal and for my dad to be recognised, that he made a difference, but we need medical research as well. You could go down in history as the man who made this happen, for the veterans, for my son Sascha."
According to the Mirror, after being presented with the evidence of missing medical records, blood samples taken but hidden from health archives, Mr Johnson agreed it could amount to a criminal offence committed against veterans.
He added: "If it's been hidden away, like in the Raiders of the Lost Ark, or stuff is being stashed in a vault or wherever, by the British government, that needs to be sorted out."
The PM and his advisers, including top civil servants and Veterans Minister Leo Docherty, listened to other, similar stories from veterans across the UK. He was shown evidence of how infant mortality among veterans is five times higher and dozens of miscarriages reported.
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, 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.
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 in February showed 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.
It also found increased rates for cancer of the stomach, prostate, respiratory system, and cerebrovascular disease, as well as increases in suicide and self-harm. Before the meeting, the PM was sent a short video featuring the testimony of veterans and descendants.
He was also shown a horrifying moment from a veterans’ seminar held last year, in which all seven veterans raised their hands when asked if they had cancer and all but one raised their hands when asked if they had lost a child.
