Soldier held after 5 years on the run

A SOLDIER who went on the run five years ago after making allegations of bullying against the Royal Green Jackets was yesterday under close arrest at an Army base.

Paul Martin, 26, was seized by military police at his home in Hayling Island, Hampshire.

Mr Martin, formerly known as Rifleman Paul Cummins, went absent after claiming soldiers were urinated on and sprayed with lighter fuel and CS gas.

He gave himself up, was sentenced to 28 days' detention and transferred to another regiment.

But he allegedly went on the run again, claiming he feared for his life after being threatened with a baseball bat. He fled to Spain with a fellow rifleman.

After a year in Spain he returned home and worked for a building firm in Petersfield, Hampshire. But Army authorities tracked him down and his mother, Diana Martin, said she was forced to tell them where he was.

'I find it very difficult to understand why they want to take him back after all this time,' she said. 'I was told that if I was withholding information I could be prosecuted so I had to tell them where he was.'

An Army spokesman said Mr Martin was being held under close arrest at a base in Winchester and added: 'The case is being investigated.'