A SOLDIER from Greater Manchester was among three disgraced British servicemen beginning jail sentences today after being thrown out of the army last night for their roles in a prisoner abuse scandal at an aid camp in Iraq.
The shamed men from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were told their fate at a court martial in Osnabruck, Germany.
Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, from Oldham, was sentenced to 140 days, just under five months. Corporal Daniel Kenyon was sentenced to 18 months while Lance Corporal Mark Cooley got two years.
L/Cpl Larkin, 30, pleaded guilty to assaulting an Iraqi prisoner.
Kenyon, 33, and Cooley, 25, were found guilty on Wednesday of taking part in the mistreatment of captured looters at Camp Bread Basket in May 2003. The fate of the soldiers was decided by a panel of seven senior officers and Judge Advocate Michael Hunter.
'Trophy'
The case was brought to trial after the emergence of "trophy" photographs of abuse, including images of sexual humiliation.
The photographs were taken by another soldier, Gary Bartlam, 20, who then took them to be developed at a shop in his home town Tamworth, Staffordshire where an assistant called in police.
At a separate court last month in Hohne, Germany, Bartlam was ordered to be detained at a youth detention facility for 18 months and disgracefully discharged.
In one photograph a grinning Cooley was shown driving a forklift truck with a bound Iraqi prisoner suspended from the prongs.
Another showed Cooley, a father of one from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, kneeling and pretending to punch a prostrate prisoner.
Kenyon, also from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, appeared in the background of one picture which showed another Iraqi being assaulted.
Larkin was seen dressed in his boxer shorts and flip-flops, standing on top of a prone detainee who was tied in a cargo net. The judge said he took into account his guilty plea.
Cooley was found guilty of two charges - disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind and prejudicing good order and military discipline.
Kenyon, a married father of three, was found guilty of three charges - aiding and abetting Larkin in the assault, failing to report the forklift truck incident and failing to report that prisoners were being forced to simulate sex acts.
In mitigation, the court heard that Larkin's ex-girlfriend was five months pregnant with their first child.
William England, representing the soldier, said: "He has ruined not only his reputation but that of his regiment."
Last night the soldiers were said to be angry commanding officers had not faced charges.
Showing comments 1 to 3 and replies | View All
Roger Bingham, Lauzun, France (26/02/2005 at 14:01)
I served in the infantry for 12 years and find it difficult to believe that senior officers or NCOs were not aware of these incidents. Are they under investigation? Will there be further charges? Is there a cover-up?
The honour and professional reputation of this regiment and the British Army is threatened by anything less than a thorough, example setting investigation.
The public, serving soldiers, their families and ex-servicemen deserve nothing less.
Colin E, Staffs (26/02/2005 at 19:13)
Scapegoats, what happened to honourable officers? The officers should accept responsibility for their soldiers actions
Marco Garcia, Buena Park, CA, USA (04/05/2005 at 19:54)
I am not condoning the behavior of some soldiers, but the people who put them in those situations are the real criminals.
As anyone can tell you from military experience, the idea is to reduce the enemy to an non-human existence, just as was done to the people of Vietnam and Cambodia.
This is what is taught to our soldiers, and in fact, supported by people like Blair, Bush, and Rumsfeld.
As the world knows, Blair and his buddy Bush, knew from the get-go that there was no validity to the attack on Iraq.
Time and time again, it has been pointed out that this was the plan when Wolfowitz put together his PNAC plans for the Middle East.
So, who is kidding who here?