A FORMER Malvern copper who claims he was used as a human guinea pig for atomic tests at the height of the Cold War, is suing the Ministry of Defence.

Jim Pratt, aged 71, was subjected to massive doses of radiation when the warship he was serving on was sailed straight through a radioactive cloud to determine whether British servicemen could withstand the effects of nuclear fallout.

Mr Pratt, aged only 18 at the time and undertaking National Service in the Navy, was just miles from an explosion seven times the size of Hiroshima.

Mr Pratt, now living in Kingswinford, was chief inspector in Malvern for five years, before working at Barnard's Green solicitors Gaynor Smith Owen for 10 years.

He said: "My concern is my comrades and colleagues who have died appalling deaths.

"The MOD needs to be brought to account."

He said: "We were told nothing about the actual nature of what we were going to do.

"Everyone was quite excited about the mission as first. We thought of it as seeing the world at the expense of the Navy."

The HMS Diana was sailed close to the Monte Bello Islands, off the coast of Australia, in March 1956.

The servicemen were ordered to stand on deck, fitted with radiation measuring dosimeters, as two atomic bombs were exploded.

The ship was enveloped in a mist of sea water as it passed through the radiation cloud in the mistaken belief that this would protect it from the fallout.

Mr Pratt described witnessing the explosions.

"Beautiful is perhaps not the right word, but it was an awe-inspiring and awesome thing."

"The dosimeters were displaying very high readings but we were told they were nothing to worry about, added Mr Pratt, "After that we made our way home."

Mr Pratt, a grandfather of two who lives with his wife, June, was first alerted to the possible implications of the tests he was involved with when he saw the front page story of the People newspaper in 1991.

The headline read "Did you sail on the ship of doom?" and carried details of the high number of crew members who had died in the intervening years.

He began to make the connection between the tests and his own health problems.

He said: "A year after I had left the national service I suffered very bad skin problems. I thought My god, what is happening to me?' "I then developed very severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which is a most uncomfortable problem."

The cost for other servicemen on the HMS Diana may have been much higher.

Today, just 60 of the 300 original crew members are alive. More than 100 have died as a result of cancer.

Mr Pratt said he felt betrayed by the MOD's perceived indifference to the ill health he had suffered.

"I wrote to the MOD," he said, "But they did not want to know.

"They have a duty of care to those they employ. We have been ignored ever since."

The first court date for Mr Pratt's claim, along with hundreds of other servicemen, will be held in January 2009.