A FORMER Royal Marine is to set up a charity to help veterans of the Falklands conflict.

Colin Waite, from Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, who served on HMS Fearless during the war, claims that veterans of the conflict are not given enough support.

The 43-year-old, who suffered post-traumatic-stress disorder following his time in the Falklands, wants to raise money to fly veterans to the islands.

The vast majority of the 29,000 troops involved in the war have never returned to the islands.

Mr Waite said that is because many cannot afford to travel back.

He said: "The Falklands War has left a lot of servicemen badly affected and disillusioned, but many have received no help whatsoever in dealing with their experiences.

"I myself considered suicide after the Falklands, so I know what fellow veterans have gone through, and I want to give them the help they deserve.

"I want to raise enough money to pay for between two and five veterans to fly to the Falklands every month, until every veteran who wants to return, has."

Mr Waite will call the charity the Falklands Veterans Foundation, and he hopes to have it running within the year.

Earlier this year, Mr Waite launched a campaign to buy HMS Fearless, which has been decommissioned by the Royal Navy and is set to be sold as scrap metal.

Fearless was initially expected to be sold to India as scrap, but Brazil has also shown interest in buying the vessel, and it could even be sold on to Argentina.

To find out more about the Save the Fearless campaign, visit the website www.hmsfearless.co.uk.

The warship was the command vessel for the amphibious assault on the islands in 1982, and Mr Waite hopes to raise enough money to buy the ship and convert it into a museum to commemorate the conflict.