A NORTH-EAST survivor of the Japanese prisoner of war camps has urged caution over reports that veterans may finally be compensated for their nightmare treatment.

Although Japan is still ignoring calls to compensate the surviving PoWs, it is believed the British Government could pay out about £10,000 to each former soldier.

Veteran Herbie Barwick, 82, of Middlesbrough, has been campaigning for a fair settlement since the PoWs were awarded just £75.50 in the 1950s.

Although the Ministry of Defence is thought to be in the process of compiling a compensation package to be put before the Government, Mr Barwick refused to celebrate the possible windfall.

He said: "Once I see the compensation I will believe it. I hope it's not a false alarm, because we have been fighting for so long.

"We have been campaigning for £10,000 and, if we got it, it would be a big jump from the £75.50 we were first awarded.

"I just hope that if the money is coming it arrives sooner rather than later."

Mr Barwick was captured during the fall of Singapore and was forced to work on the infamous Railway of Death, immortalised in the epic film Bridge over the river Kwai, which sanitised the treatment suffered by prisoners of war.

About 7,000 former troops, who suffered beatings and starvation in Japanese camps, are still alive and many still suffer hardship in their daily lives.

The Government had previously insisted the matter of compensation was closed, amid fears of a flood of claims for money, but recent settlements in Canada and the Isle of Man have renewed pressure for a pay-out.

Yesterday, Mr Barwick stressed he would accept the money from the British Government if the Japanese authorities refused to pay out.

He said: "I would not have a problem with being compensated by Britain. This is money we are entitled to wherever it comes from.