For seven decades, the British government has denied a dark secret: that it knowingly exposed thousands of its own servicemen to dangerous radiation during Cold War nuclear weapons tests. Now, damning evidence has emerged, revealing what veterans have long claimed – they were subjects in a human experiment. This is the story of the Nuked Blood Scandal.
The Fight for Recognition and a War Pension
The scandal first came to light for many through personal tragedies. In 2006, Craig Prescott contacted a reporter after his father, Roy Prescott, died at just 66. Roy, a Royal Engineer, had been ordered to participate in nuclear trials. The Ministry of Defence refused to admit liability for his subsequent health issues, denying his family a war pension.
Craig's determination saw him win a widow's pension for his mother after an appeal. His case highlighted a stark injustice: while the United States compensated its test veterans, Britain consistently refused. Roy was one of an estimated 40,000 British and Commonwealth personnel involved in tests spanning over a decade.
These veterans, from all armed forces and ranks, reported a horrifying pattern: aggressive cancers, high miscarriage rates among partners, and birth defects in their children. Research from New Zealand later confirmed genetic damage in test veterans equivalent to that found in Chernobyl clean-up workers.
Decades of Campaigning and Legal Battles
The campaign for justice began long before. The Mirror newspaper started its crusade in 1984, when investigative journalist Paul Foot raised the alarm. The fight was taken up by editors like the late Richard Stott.
A major group litigation reached the High Court, where veterans faced aggressive MoD lawyers who picked apart their memories. The veterans' legal team fought to lift 'national security' restrictions on key documents. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court in 2012, which dismissed the claim on a technicality – it was 'out of time' – without ever hearing evidence on radiation.
Despite this devastating blow, the community persisted. New research into birth defects continued, and fresh documents were unearthed in the National Archives. In 2018, they launched a campaign for a medal to recognise their service.
A Medal Delivered with Disdain and a Smoking Gun
In 2022, after four years of campaigning and revelations of MoD obstruction, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a medal. For veterans like Bryan Roth, a winch driver at the 1957 Operation Antler, it was a moment of immense pride. Around 4,000 veterans worldwide now wear the medal, with a further 1,000 claimed by families of those who died.
Yet the gesture was marred. The medal was a commemorative gong, not an engraved service medal, and many arrived in Jiffy bags, which veterans found insulting. Privately, ministers have expressed sympathy with this view.
The medal campaign reinvigorated the community and led to a breakthrough. A veteran's daughter, sorting through her father's papers, found a 1958 memo between atomic scientists. It discussed a "gross irregularity" in the blood tests of a pilot who flew through mushroom clouds. This was the first hard evidence of the human experiment veterans alleged.
The Earthquake: Documents Reveal the Truth
This memo was traced to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). After numerous Freedom of Information requests and Parliamentary pressure, 150 documents were declassified from a top-secret database. They contained shocking evidence: blood test data, orders, analysis, and the redacted names of thousands of troops.
This has now exploded into the full-blown Nuked Blood Scandal. It has triggered a ministerial inquiry, a major crime review by Thames Valley Police, and a fresh lawsuit. Crucially, 750,000 pages of evidence from the AWE have been released – believed to be the biggest declassification of nuclear secrets in British history.
The fight continues. For the veterans, their widows, and descendants, it remains a battle for truth, accountability, and proper compensation after 70 years of official denial. The pebble of Roy Prescott's story has started an earthquake, and its tremors are still being felt in Whitehall and beyond.
