Chairman of the Japanese Labour Camp Survivors' Association, Arthur Titherington, said he was hopeful the four-year legal battle in the Japanese courts would end in favour of his members and other survivors.

"I feel they have to answer to the rest of the world on Thursday," he said.

The court in Tokyo will rule on whether seven plaintiffs in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand are each entitled to £13,500 compensation from the Japanese Government.

The seven represent about 20,000 inmates who would each be entitled to a similar sum.

The Japanese Government may be facing a final bill of around $290m.

Call for justice

Mr Titherington, Keith Martin, who represents British civilian internees and their lawyer, Martyn Day, were flying to Tokyo on Tuesday to hear the judges' verdict.

Speaking at Heathrow Airport before departing, Mr Titherington said: "This is not hatred or revenge, all I want is justice. I don't see, frankly, how they can refuse."

He was seized at the age of 20 in Singapore in 1941 and held in a labour camp in Taiwan.

He was one of three former prisoners who relived their experiences in labour camps while testifying before the Japanese courts in February.

The legal team acting on behalf of the former prisoners of war told the court the 1951 settlement with the Japanese Government, which awarded prisoners of war £76 each and civilian detainees £49 each, had no legal validity.