Nuclear test survivor Bert Tomlin will have to wait until after Easter to find out if his and his fellow veterans’ compensation claims can go ahead.

The 70-year-old, of Sherwood Close, Faversham, is one of about 1,000 veterans who served in the Pacific while atomic and hydrogen bombs were tested just a few miles away during the height of the Cold War.

They are claiming hundreds of millions of pounds in damages from the Ministry of Defence for ill health they say was caused by radiation exposure following the explosions.

For the last three weeks MoD lawyers have been waging a legal battle in the High Court in an attempt to derail the veterans’ compensation claims before they even get to full trial.

They have argued that under the Limitation Act, 1980, it is too late to launch personal injury actions.

On the final day of the hearing, Mr Justice Foskett said a decision wouldn’t be announced until after Easter.

Mr Tomlin, who served as a young Royal Marine on Christmas Island in the late 1950s, said: “It is not going to happen overnight. I just have to sit here and wait.”

He suffers from debilitating pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease that has left him housebound and using oxygen around the clock.