New health fears for SAS hero as he collapses after he was threatened with jail for refusing to appear at inquest for IRA death squad

The mental health of a veteran SAS hero collapsed after he was threatened with jail for refusing to appear at an inquest for an IRA death squad, it emerged last night.

The ex-soldier, who can only be identified as Soldier F, was found in contempt of court after saying he was too ill to be cross-examined about the shooting of the three IRA men in an SAS ambush in 1991.

He was initially ordered to spend six months behind bars but last week – following a public outcry – his jail sentence was quashed. 

Judges instead imposed a £5,000 fine. His lawyer Philip Barden last night told the MoS that the legal battle had taken its toll.

‘His poor health, the result of his post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], has significantly deteriorated as a consequence of this legal process,’ he said.

Soldier F, who has battled PTSD since 2002, was called to give his account of an SAS operation in Co Tyrone in June 1991 to a coroner in Belfast. 

Three gunmen were en route to murder a member of the security forces when SAS soldiers opened fire in the village of Coagh.

He provided a witness statement for the inquest into the dead men, who included Tony Doris, 21, a cousin of Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, and agreed to answer written questions but declined to give oral evidence because of his poor health. 

Two leading psychiatrists agreed he was not fit to give evidence in person.