I'll fight on, says torture claim man

Since his imprisonment and torture in March 2001 for a crime he did not commit, he has lost his health, his livelihood and, at one stage, his mind.

Yesterday, he lost his bid to sue the Saudi government for damages and now stands to lose his home. But this, he says, is just the beginning.

He says he was tortured into confessing to a terrorist bombing in Riyadh and has vowed to carry on his battle for damages after the High Court blocked his bid to sue.

Sitting in his bright kitchen at his home in Crawley, drinking coffee and looking out on his blossoming garden, Mr Jones looks relaxed and at ease.

The scene is a world away from his ordeal in Riyadh.

It has taken him 18 months of counselling to get to this stage.

Last August, he was unable to stay at home alone, could not go out and was in constant fear of his life.

Six months earlier, the softly spoken Scot was working as a senior tax adviser for a Saudi firm.

On March 15 last year, he was standing outside an English language bookshop in Riyadh, smoking a cigarette and waiting for friends, when a bomb exploded in a bin 15ft away.

He was taken to hospital with burns. The next day, heavily sedated, he says he was smuggled out to a detention centre.

There, over 67 days he says he was systematically tortured: Beaten with canes across his hands and feet, hit all over his body with an axe handle, kicked and punched and left in isolation.

He was prevented from sleeping by glaring lights switched on 24 hours a day in every room he occupied.

Under these conditions he said he confessed to the bombing. But then, in May last year, he was unexpectedly released.

Yesterday, senior High Court official Master Whitaker, sitting in London, expressed his "greatest sympathy" for Mr Jones but ruled the law meant the English courts did not have jurisdiction to deal with the case.

He granted an application by the Saudi government, which denies Mr Jones's allegations, to have the action against it struck out on the grounds of state immunity.

Mr Jones is determined to carry on with the fight.

He and his wife Sandra admit they may lose their four-bedroom home to pay for their legal fees, which include about £15,000 costs from yesterday's case.

But they do not care.

Mr Jones said: "They picked on the wrong man.

"The Saudis totally deny it. I've had a letter from Tony Blair which says he believes me but the Government has never said it in public.

"The Government would like me to go away and die quietly. It's a diplomatic embarrassment for them.

"But I won't go away. I'll keep fighting and campaigning until the law is changed.

"We're not going to let them destroy us. We'll probably lose our house. I'm threatened with bankruptcy. So what?

"We'll live in a council house and carry on fighting.

"I feel better now that the decision has come through. Last night I couldn't sleep but now I'm ready to fight."

His fight is about far more than compensation.

Mr Jones said: "There are still six Britons in prison in Saudi Arabia for bombings. I have no doubt they were forced to sign confessions after being tortured.

"We've had fantastic support from their families. We're all standing together."

Mrs Jones said: "If we can stop just one person being tortured and going through what Ron went through then it will all be worth it."

They have reason to hope.

In his verdict, Master Whitaker said: "This doesn't mean UK courts should see this as set in stone.

"As international law develops, attitudes in English courts towards international law may develop."

Mr Jones said: "I think it was very positive. He said nothing would change until the law changes and that's what we will fight for.

"Why should the Saudis have more protection in English courts than I do?"

More than two years after his imprisonment, Mr Jones cannot work, has trouble with his short-term memory and still gets pain in his hands and feet.

He said: "I'm not over it but I'm working through it.

"It all came to a head when I saw the confessions of six Britons accused of bombings in Saudi Arabia on the news.

"I knew from seeing them they'd been tortured and it triggered everything for me. I had a breakdown. I couldn't speak. I couldn't leave the house. I had to take sleeping pills. I lost it."

He went to the Foreign Office who arranged for him to be debriefed by members of the serious crime squad and the hostage squad of the Metropolitan Police.

He said: "Home Office pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey came and examined me here at home. His verdict was that I had been tortured.

"The Met were fantastic. They gathered evidence and the Government presented it to the Saudis but they denied it and said I was lying."

The British Government's role in the affair has been one of the hardest things to come to terms with.

He said: "The Government's silence has been more damaging. Why won't they come out and publicly say I didn't do it or apply more pressure on the Saudis?

"I'm really, really angry. I've had to do this all alone. Our government is kowtowing to the Saudis. There is too much money involved.

"I can't fault the Government for their treatment of me up until I went public - they got me out of prison, they arranged counselling.

"But after I went to the Press they dropped me. It cut me up. I had trusted them."

The couple are still living with the consequences of Mr Jones's 67-day ordeal.

Mrs Jones said: "I saw Ron three times in prison.

"I can't say what it was like. You have to be strong. You can't let yourself really feel at the time.

"I had to sit and laugh with him and pretend things would be fine.

"The first time they took him back to his cell he was crying. I had to laugh and tell him not to be silly."

The couple have a 14-year-old son, Grant.

Mrs Jones said: "He was 11 at the time. Sometimes I think it hasn't affected him but there are little things.

"I always wear the same perfume but the day we flew to Riyadh to see Ron in prison, I bought a new one. The other day I put it on without thinking about it.

"Grant smelt it and said 'Mum, please don't wear that again, it reminds me of going to see dad in prison'."

Mr Jones said: "Psychologically, my torturers brain-washed me. They told me I was worthless and reduced me to nothing. They were calling me a liar - they made me question my own sanity.

"I confessed because I could not stand being in solitary confinement anymore.

"I can't explain it. You forget about pain but you don't forget about what they do psychologically.

"Master Whitaker's verdict was originally set for Tuesday - exactly 67 days after the case was adjourned, the same amount of time I was in prison.

"These past two months have been another kind of torture. That's why I can't give up. If I do, it's letting the torturers win."