Help for ex Marine

[felixflyer]

Hi guys,

I am trying to help my best friend who is an ex Royal Marine and going through a bad time.

He returned from Afghanistan after many years of service and left the Marines to start a new life, at the time he was suffering from PTS but was looking forward to a new start.

I will let him write the exact details of what happened and will post it here as it will be best in his own words but basically he was attacked by his girlfriend who is a police officer with a knife, he did what any trained Marine would do and put her in a hold resulting in her colleagues coming round and arresting him for assault. He went to court and was eventually found not guilty and she was found to have lied in court, nothing happened to her and she is still serving with the police.

That was a bad enough situation but whilst this was going on she made sure the police would not let him anywhere near his house and she proceeded to steal all his belongings amounting to thousands of pounds worth of items. The worst of it is he lost his medals and that is the thing which he just cannot let go. He has tried to rebuild his life but cannot get past this. He wants justice for the way he was treated and attending the memorial services without his medals was a bad point.

I have only very briefly described what happened, the police closed ranks, covered things up, new she lied in court etc. and were complicit in letting her steal/destroy his possesions leaving him with nothing. He is not looking for financial return but wants some kind of closure and is really struggling to rebuild his life without getting some kind of justice.

I was not in the services and have never been to war so can never understand the things he has been through. I am trying to help him out and as he will never let this go I can only help him to get his story heard.

Any suggestions as to the best way to proceed with this and get him enough publicity to at least get his medals back? He is left with nothing and cannot afford solicitors etc. He has already been found not guilty of any crime himself yet she has gotten away with everything and he wants some kind of justice.

Any comments will be much appreciated.

[Mick Strigg]

Put him in touch with his local branch of SSAFA. They will appoint a caseworker who will assess the problem and then either point him in the right direction or get the appropriate agencies to help him. Cost = £0.00

[Whenurhappy]

Other sources of assistance include:

Royal Marines Charities (http://www.modern-day-commando.com/Royal-Marines-Charities.html) and the Royal Naval Benevolent Fund (RM are part of the Naval Service).

For professional PTSD assistance, he should be referred to Combat Stress, who now have a contract with the MOD to provide PTSD assistance to SP and ex SP: They have a 24 hour helpline: About us | Combat Stress (http://www.combatstress.org.uk/about-us/)

On the matter of the conduct of the Police, he should refer the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission: Independent Police Complaints Commission (http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/en/Pages/default.aspx)

[Mick Strigg]

I agree with everything that "When..." has said, but the thing about SSAFA is that they act as "triage" to assess the problem and then engage with the appropriate agency or charities to get the assistance the client needs. Going direct to say the RM Charity may be going in the totally wrong direction. SSAFA are the experts in this field so use their services.

[PPRuNe Pop]

I hate this! But it has to be said that there is little that PPRuNe can do or is allowed to do. Good suggestions have already been put forward but beyond that PPRuNe must remain distant. We do bend the rules a little but that is far as we can go.

On face value this instance shows the need for expert input and if it is as unjust as it appears then help is out there.

I will close the thread but keep in view for a while so I suggest those who have useful input should do it by PM to the starter..

PPP