7 Aug 2009

'They are talking to me about money I owe to them as if I had robbed a bank'

Clowes leg A UK soldier who lost a leg fighting in Afghanistan has attacked the Ministry of Defence's "disgusting" treatment of his compensation case after it insisted he repay £48,392 that it deposited in his account in error.

Carl Clowes, 23, a former private in the Royal Engineers whose legs were shattered when his vehicle hit a mine in Helmand province in July 2007, used the money to clear his mortgage on his house, before offering to pay it back at the rate of £120 a month over 23 years.

The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency refused his terms this week, cancelled his £14,300 medical discharge award and said it would cut his pension from £920 to £620 a month. It wants to take £10,000 of his £13,000 savings.

In an escalating dispute, Clowes, who has a prosthetic left leg and suffers pain if he walks more than a few yards, plans to keep the money, which he believes is reasonable compensation for 17 other injuries, including serious injuries to his right leg. The government agency has warned him not to go public about the dispute, which has made him even angrier.

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