Jailing Iraq veteran puts focus on combat stress

Jailing Iraq veteran puts focus on combat stress

THE HINDU

Audrey Gillan
Irish Guard gets seven years after police say he threatened to `spray them down' with stolen rifles.
· Lance Corporal James Piotrowski was affected by the `horrors of war'
· Family blames the army, says it will go in appeal.


BRITISH POLICE vehicles slammed into the front, back and side of the blue Ford Focus. Lance Corporal James Piotrowski was pulled from the driver's seat, pinned to the ground and handcuffed. Two high-velocity SA80 rifles had gone missing from the headquarters of the Irish Guards at Wellington barracks in central London and police believed the soldier had one. A nationwide hunt for the Iraq war veteran was launched, until military police located one of the rifles in pieces under his bed in a PlayStation box.
The other weapon and Piotrowski were still missing. Police claimed the soldier, then 21, made this telephone threat: "You know I have the other one. I am on the way home and if I find any coppers there I'm going to spray you down ... I'm going to spray you."
Snipers were stationed on the roof of Bournville Lane police station in Birmingham, and streets around the Northfield area of the city were sealed off. Piotrowski's face was projected on to the wall of police HQ with the word "wanted" alongside. His mother and 17-year-old sister were arrested and detained under the Terrorism Act for 30 hours. Finally, in November 2004, he was tracked down.
On Monday, he was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison. The judge advocate, Jack Bayliss, sitting with a five-member military panel, said he was a "highly manipulative young man." He was stripped of his rank and dismissed from the army.
The judge said: "Given the psychiatric reports we have read, the court regards you as a dangerous offender." He added that if the court had had the power, the soldier would have faced an indeterminate sentence in the public interest. He had received a weapon "of a lethality that no other members of the community have access to, that are capable of lethal fire at a very high velocity, that are designed with no other purpose than to kill people."
Ignominious outcome
It was an ignominious outcome for a soldier who when he joined the army aged 18 four years ago was assessed as being "fit, strong, mentally strong, showing everything was going for him" and was named top recruit of his year. When the Iraq war began in 2003 he was put into the frontline of the invasion.
In a character reference read to the court, Colour Sergeant Butler said: "I received regular reports on his performance [in Iraq] and noted that his bravery and professionalism again stood out compared to his peers. Throughout the period of time, L/Cpl Piotrowski served his country with pride, loyalty and passion. Although young he struck me as a man of great potential, one who if he had continued to perform to his initial potential would have reached the very top of his chosen profession."
But on his return from Iraq, Piotrowski quickly went off the rails, going on the run in November 2004. Lawyers argued in his defence that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His solicitor advocate, Justin Hugheston-Roberts, said all Piotrowski had ever wanted to be was a soldier but that the "horrors of war" had affected him. He said: "He's no longer the invincible, bullet-proof Rambo. He is now, I suppose, almost a mere boy, who has suffered and seen things many of us in this court wouldn't want to go anywhere near." Taking the rifle "was a crass and stupid act and there's genuine and real contrition," he added.
Piotrowski's family also says he is suffering from PTSD. It claims that the sights he saw during his three-month tour, from January to April 2003, turned him into a thug who only felt secure with a weapon by his side. The family said on Monday that it would appeal.
An army doctor said in a report that he "certainly describes a number of post-traumatic symptoms but I am not convinced he fulfils the full criteria for PTSD."
A leading specialist in the field of combat stress, Dafydd Alun Jones, was more definitive in his assessment of the soldier, concluding that Piotrowski had been suffering from PTSD. Dr. Jones said: "I have seen many ex-servicemen suffering similar conditions who feel naked and apprehensive without some weapon on their person or within access. This is the process underlying the possession of the rifle in this case."
However, this diagnosis was rejected unanimously by the court martial, which pointed out that if this was the case the rifle would not have been broken down into pieces.
Disturbing figures
The debate over whether his behaviour can be put down to the trauma he faced in Iraq is likely to continue. But he is not the only soldier to claim that he suffered mentally as a result of the invasion. Figures given to the Commons put the number of servicemen and women who have suffered mental problems as a result of their experience in Iraq at 1,333 between January 2003 and September 2005.
Of those, 182 have been found to be suffering from PTSD, while 601 are judged to have adjustment disorder or, in lay terms, combat stress. A further 237 are classified as suffering from depression and 167 suffer other forms of mental illness or substance misuse. Experts in the field of combat stress say this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the army and soldiers themselves are often reluctant to admit to its existence.
Since his arrest for stealing the guns, the army has denied that Piotrowski is suffering from PTSD. Instead, its own doctors have declared that he is in fact psychotic, so he was detained under the Mental Health Act at Cheadle Royal hospital, a private clinic in Cheshire. After treatment there, he again escaped from the custody of the army and made his own way to Ty Gwyn, a clinic in Llandudno, north Wales, that specialises in the treatment of veterans suffering from combat stress.
The clinic, which was run by Dr. Jones, has since closed owing to lack of funding. After two days at the clinic, Royal Military police officers arrested Piotrowski there and returned him to Colchester prison. However, it was forced to return him to Ty Gwyn, where he was treated for seven months by Dr. Jones.
On Monday a former officer with the Irish Guards said: "Piotrowski was a perfectly nice guy. Having been to Iraq, I know it does have an effect on you. It was only last summer that I got over Iraq and I think I am a reasonably well-balanced person and I have a good support structure. Others aren't so fortunate. The army could be slightly more robust, use outside organisations and look after its people a bit better. If they did that, there wouldn't be so many cases of PTSD."
James' father, Mark Piotrowski, claims the army has failed his son, who had complained of his "head exploding" long before the rifles went missing. He said: "The army has constantly said that my son is blagging. They now say he is psychotic, but if this is the case why wasn't this picked up before?"
His mother, Debbie Higgins, said: "They took them off to war then washed their hands of them. They turn them into a robot. James lived and breathed the army, why would he steal a rifle and go on the run? He had been promoted to corporal within 12 months. His head is a mess because of Iraq and the army won't take responsibility for it."
- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006


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