A seriously ill veteran who says he was humiliated, interrogated, and threatened with prison for being gay during his military service claims he has been refused financial reparations from the government. Michael Pitchford, 78, from Rottingdean, claims he was pressurised into paying £250 to finish his army contract early, so does not qualify for a Dismissed and Discharged Payment of £50,000. Homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967 but a ban continued in the armed forces until 2000. An MoD spokesperson said: "We recognise that those who felt pressured to resign, suffered unacceptable experiences and therefore the scheme was expanded to include an additional Impact Payment which we encourage those veterans to apply for." The MoD added that it "deeply regrets" the "wholly unacceptable" treatment of LGBT serving personnel, pledging its commitment to "righting these wrongs". Pitchford signed on for nine years with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.…