MILITARY police arrested a Royal Navy whistleblower yesterday who had gone absent without leave having exposed safety and security concerns about Trident.

Submarine technician William McNeilly, 25, went on the run after publishing an 18-page report listing a catalogue of alleged safety hazards and dangerous practices relating to Britain’s nuclear missile system and submarine fleet.

He said it amounted to “a disaster waiting happen.”

Mr McNeilly, from Belfast, has served on submarine HMS Victorious. He said the problems could cause a nuclear explosion either on underwater patrol or in docking at the four Trident submarines’ base at Faslane in Scotland.

Mr McNeilly’s report included the claim that crew members used a nuclear missile store as a gym and that test missile launches had failed. He also described security alarms being silenced and fires in missile compartments.

He said he raised the issues with seniors but was ignored. After Mr McNeilly surrendered to authorities on Monday night, the Ministry of Defence said he was being held at a military base in Scotland.

Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, called for Mr McNeilly’s allegations to be investigated.

She said: “William McNeilly warns that Cameron and others are presented with a slick show which is unrecognisable from the practice of operating Vanguard Class submarines. If this is true, and McNeilly has opened these slack and dangerous practices to the light of day, then he has done everyone a service and should be acknowledged as a whistleblower rather than vilified as a traitor or a crank.”