More a thousand former POWs in Essex and East Anglia could be on the verge of receiving an official apology and up to £14,000 in compensation from the Japanese government.

Japanese judges are set to rule in March on a six year court battle launched by the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors Association to win compensation for the treatment the POWs by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.

The organisation, which represents 7,500 ex-POWs and widows worldwide, suffered a setback when their original case was rejected at the Tokyo district court a year ago.

Their appeal has been before judges on two occasions since then and they meet again in March when they could finally rule on the case.

Veterans like Dick Wilkins from Rayleigh and association president Bill Holtham, from Southend, who were forced to work on the notorious Burma railway, hope the news will be good.

Mr Wilkins, 82, of Great Wheatley Road, said he and thousands of his comrades had been waiting 55 years for justice.

He said: "We weren't treated like POWs. We were treated like animals and slaves. We have been fighting for this for a long time and I hope something will come of it."

The association, which has gained worldwide publicity for it efforts to win compensation for thousands of members, grew out of the Southend Far East POWs group and was founded by Mr Holtham.

He and Mr Wilkins were POWs for more than three years.

Both suffered beatings, witnessed atrocities against other POWs and were made to work in slave-like conditions on the Burma railway and on the River Kwai from 1942 until their liberation by the Allies in 1945.

Mr Holtham, 79, of Pinewood Road, was one of 1,680 British soldiers to be sent to the brutal Number 2 Camp at Sonkrai on the Burma/Siam border.

Just three months later there were only 250 left alive - the majority succumbing to disease, lack of food, and atrocities.

He said: "There is nothing definite in March. We are going to Tokyo but I know the Japanese put things off and off. I wouldn't be surprised if nothing happens."

Association chairman Arthur Titherington, who lives in Oxfordshire, said he had learnt on Friday that a further hearing on their appeal would take place in Tokyo in February.

He said: "The court will then meet in March when it could decide that the Japanese government must pay compensation. We must wait and see."

Memories - Dick Wilkins, 82, with a shoe and cloth thong he wore at a prisoner of war and (left) Dick in uniform soon after he joined the army

Picture:STEPHEN LLOYD

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