British Intelligence Torture Techniques

I would like to briefly recount here, the two systems of torture, which comprised a large part of 'training' on the INSET course. 'Mind control' programming was intermixed with torture - the objective being, to break a person in terms of their mind, body and soul. The hoped-for result was that agents and officers would then follow commands and orders, unquestioningly.

Torture was divided up into 'hot' and 'cold' as well as 'wet' and 'dry'.

Every recruit was tortured arbitarily and at random, regardless or whether or not they had performed well at the tasks set. Even if a recruit followed orders unquestioningly - they were still tortured as much as anybody else. People who excelled at tasks were tortured because they had shown 'pride' and therefore their ego had to be punctured.

Recruits quickly learnt not to excel or to fail any task - most importantly, they learnt to follow orders unquestioningly, even if it meant abusing one of their peer group whom they knew was entirely innocent and did not deserve to be 'punished' at all.

When 'punishment' has no rhyme or reason, it kills most people's spirit of rebellion very quickly. It is the quickest way to break a person's heart and mind - they become something less than human.

'Cold' Torture

(A survivor's account)

"We had sessions in breathing control and how long we could hold our breath - presumably for any operation which required swimming under water. We were made to practice and the programmers timed us and took our best results.

We were then taken to Fort Monckton where we were given various practical training sessions, run by the SAS. During our stay there, each one of us was taken away for a morning. When the recruit came back, he or she could not speak about what had happened. They had been forbidden to and so none of us knew what to expect.

When my turn came, I was taken by the graduate programmers and Manningham-Buller to a small room with no windows, where there was a large tank of water. I was told to strip and get into it. Once inside the tank, they put a lid on and bolted it down. There was still air at the top of the tank but this began to rapidly disappear and I realised that there was a pipe at the bottom of the tank which was filling it up. Someone had turned on the tap. I cannot describe what I felt like at that moment of realisation. It was impossible to escape.

I held my breath for as long as I could but eventually began to take in water. When they took the lid off, I must have been unconscious.

I remember coming to, on the floor. I could hear a huge argument going on between one of the SAS in the doorway and Manningham-Buller. He was shouting abuse at her...that I was one of their best recruits and what the hell was she doing...Manningham-Buller sounded rather strange. She kept saying that it was 'just like drowning kittens' in a rather fey and bewildered voice. She didn't appear to understand why the SAS officer was so enraged.

Afterwards, I developed a lung infection and had to spend several days in sickbay."

'Hot' torture

(A survivor's account)

"The graduate trainees on the INSET course at Powergen - had been given a 'student house' of their own, in Solihull. A road which was opposite a paddock with a couple of horses in it, just behind the Franciscan Monastery.

The graduates used to 'use' the female recruits as prostitutes in the evening and it was common for them to order young women recruits to stay the night. Under mind control - it was almost impossible to refuse and if anyone did, they faced severe punishment. The graduates would then close the curtains of their living room and watch each other use the women.

I was taken there one evening and told to strip in the kitchen. The graduates had laid out newspaper on the floor. I was terrified but had no idea what to expect. They told me to lie down on the floor. Daldry then took a chip pan of smoking oil from the stove and began to flick boiling oil at me. It was excruciatingly painful and I began to scream.

This stopped him in his tracks (worried about what the neighbours might think) and Marr told me to 'switch alters'. Under mind control, there is an alter called 'rubber duck' which is supposed to be impervious to pain. I was ordered to keep silent. Tomlinson came in and filled a bucket of water.

Daldry then tipped the entire contents of the smoking, chip pan oil onto my stomach. They waited a few seconds and then Tomlinson threw the bucket of water over me. Marr was watching, he didn't say a word.

I don't remember anything much after that. I must have passed out. When I woke up, I was lying in the middle of their living room, naked under a blanket. They had left me there and gone to bed. I nearly choked as I woke up - the need to breath and to vomit, at the same time.

I began to feel myself to see if there were any bones broken...a natural reaction I suppose...I hadn't quite remembered what had happened...it was then that I saw that my stomach was bright red, as well as part of my torso. The pain kicked in and I found myself unable to move. I lay there sobbing, I was so frightened.

Tomlinson came down and whispered in my ear to 'grit your teeth and bear it'. He then went upstairs again. They left me there for the whole night. I was terrified, too frightened to cry out - too hot and yet shivering, with this horrible need to scratch but my stomach was too painful to touch.

In the morning, the graduates took me in to Powergen as if nothing had happened. I could hardly walk. When we arrived, I told Rimington that I had to go to hospital. She replied that I should join in and that I would feel better later on.

I told her that if she would not take me to hospital then she would have to call a doctor to Powergen or else I would die on the floor. At that point, she began to realise the seriousness of the situation and called the graduates out of the room to question them upon what they had done to me. She then consulted Scarlett who agreed that she should run me to hospital.

I was driven to a military hospital, where a doctor examined me. Rimington told him what had happened. As I lay on a hospital bed, the doctor exclaimed in front of me that it was a miracle that I had survived. He was surprised that my internal organs had not gone into shock. He then remarked that the 'blubber' on my stomach had probably saved me.