Recruiter scorns Diplock

Press, 5 August 1976, Page 6

Recruiter scorns Diplock

NZPA-Reuter London An underground network of mercenary hiring could spring into action the moment open recruitment is outlawed, according to a man who helped raise the band of British mercenaries who fought in Angola — and who says he would do it aga'n. Mr David Tomkins, a close ally of Britain's bestknown recruiter, Mr John Banks, predicted that the Diplock committee’s report would have virtually no effect on anyone determined to hire or be hired. “It’s like trying to stop prostitution — and just as impossible.” said Mr Tomkins, who plans to leave his Sandhurst, home soon to “look for work” in Africa. “How can you stamp out the world’s second-oldest profession?” he asked. Lord Diplock and his two fellow Privy Councillors urged in their report, published on Tuesday, that new legislation should be passed to empower the authorities to act against recruiters, though not the mercenaries themselves. But Mi Tomkins, who himseif fought in Angola, said: “If I were approached and asked to recruit men to fight against communism, 1 would do it — regardless of the law. “If necessary, I would willingly work outside the law. To hell with it. That’s not being silly — it is about time communism was stopped some way." Recruitment, he said, would simply go underground if the Government procla'med, as suggested by Lord Diplock, a ban on hiring men for a specified force or country.