PM's apology for past gay ban welcomed by Shropshire veteran

Jean Macdonald said: "All we wanted to do was serve our country"

A woman who was dismissed from the armed forces for being a lesbian has described the prime minister's apology for the historical treatment of LGBT veterans as "historic".

But Jean Macdonald, from Craven Arms, in Shropshire, said more was needed, including compensation.

She was a lance corporal in the Women's Royal Army Corps when she was dismissed in 1981.

Ms Macdonald said she had been made to feel "shame" in the 40 years since.

Rishi Sunak made the statement in Parliament after a report into service personnel's treatment recommended they be given a financial reward and the PM should publicly apologise.

He called the ban an "appalling failure" of the British state.

It was illegal to be gay in the British military until 2000 and Ms Macdonald was one of thousands of veterans thought to be affected.

Ms Macdonald joined at 19 and was a lance corporal in the Women's Royal Army Corps

After hearing the statement, Ms Macdonald told BBC Radio Shropshire she had "lots of different emotions" and added: "It's such a historic day and 42 years on I never, ever dreamed that this would happen."

She said it meant a lot to have acknowledgement of what had happened and said the apology would not have been made without the work of campaign group Fighting with Pride.

Ms Macdonald said she had been "hounded out" of the military and described the moment two military police officers with bin bags had trashed her room and then taken her for a six-hour interrogation.

She said: "The humiliation and the shame of it all was awful."

After she left the forces, she felt "just full of shame that my country didn't want me".

It took her 40 years to rebuild her confidence and she said: "No money is ever going to compensate for what happened to us and how it's affected our lives."

Among the report's recommendations were the restoration of medals, clarification of pension rights, a special veteran's badge and financial compensation.

Ms Macdonald said that was needed, to make up for the damage caused.