NORTH Yorkshire war veteran Richard Leigh Perkins has finally won a long bitter battle to reclaim cash after his disablement pension was wrongly taxed for four decades.

Major Perkins, 86, of Lastingham, who fought in Burma with The Royal Leicestershire Regiment, has received confirmation from the Ministry of Defence that his Armed Forces invalidity pension will be made exempt of tax, backdated to his discharge on February 28 1959, after he suffered a mental breakdown.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted wrongly taxing hundreds of armed forces personnel disabled during service and has announced that the veterans will share £14m in compensation.

But because of an MoD error, Major Perkins has not seen a penny in tax rebates or compensation.

Major Perkins' battle started in 2001 when a Pensions Appeal Tribunal ruled that his retirement was due to disablement attributable to military service, but the MoD then referred the case to the Inland Revenue which ruled that he was only entitled to two years in back payments.

"Instead of living these last years in peace and quiet and enjoying my own life, I've had two-and-a-half years fighting this appalling battle," said Major Perkins. "All this letter talks about is paying me back money they illegally took from me since 1959, but that's not going to be a great deal of money."

Major Perkins said he was going to pursue the MoD for ex-gratia compensation and damages.

Ryedale MP John Greenway said: "The MoD now accepts that Major Perkins' pension should be tax-exempt. I have written scores of letters to successive Defence ministers and raised his case in the House of Commons, most recently on April 1.

"Of course there are aspects about the way this case has been dealt with which deserve much closer scrutiny within the MoD and the Inland Revenue. Today I am just glad that finally a serious injustice has been put right, which I hope will enable my 86-year-old constituent to enjoy a more comfortable life in the future."

Updated: 10:56 Wednesday, May 19, 2004