A NAVY veteran who was a Porton Down guinea pig subjected to mustard gas trials has been told he will not receive compensation from the Ministry of Defence.

Kenneth Perks, from Dursley, volunteered for clinical trials in Porton Down, Wiltshire, in the 1950s after being told that it was research to find cures for the common cold.

Mr Perks and many other servicemen who went for the trials were subjected to painful tests using mustard gas and other chemicals used for biological warfare.

The MoD is now in the final stages of negotiations to give 360 Porton Down volunteers compensation of £8,300 each after more than 50 years of waiting.

However, the group of 360 men who will receive the compensation is only a small number out of the thousands of servicemen who underwent dangerous trials in Porton Down.

They started campaigning 15 years ago and hired solicitors to fight their case. But the thousands of others who were also volunteers will not be entitled to the settlement.

Mr Perks, 75, said: "They duped all of us, not just a few, and I feel quite bitter about it. I think we definitely deserve an apology.

"I am not going to be giving up, I will look for other ways to get some compensation."

As a young navy man Mr Perks saw an advert on his ship, the HMS Eagle in Devonport, asking for volunteers in clinical trials for the common cold. The trial offered one week's extra holiday and a small amount of money.

"It was not long since I had got married so I thought the holiday and extra money would be good," said Mr Perks, a father-of-three.

"When I got down there we were all lined up in barracks and went into the rooms. They put six drops of mustard gas onto my arm, which went into the skin and burned my arms. I still have faded marks where it scarred.

"The marks on my arms went into terrible, large, red blisters and then they scraped them off and tested the skin. It was quite horrible.

"Lots of men came out with eyes streaming and looking terrible."

An investigation into the clinical trials started after an inquest found that one of the volunteers, Ronald Maddison, died hours after scientists exposed him to toxic nerve gas.

Mr Perks added: "Of course we all deserve an apology, we thought the tests were for common colds, we were definitely duped. It has all been lies and lies and lies."

An MoD spokesman said they could not comment on individual cases, but were in the final stages of discussions to agree a settlement for the group of 360 men who were Porton Down volunteers.