SOLDIERS GUILTY OF "BRUTAL AND REVOLTING" IRAQI ABUSE

A MILITARY court today found two British soldiers guilty of abusing Iraqi prisoners in acts depicted in a series of sickening photographs.

The behaviour of Mark Cooley and Daniel Kenyon and two other soldiers was described as "brutal", "cruel" and "revolting" by the military judge.

And he added that the shocking pictures, used as evidence in the trial, had "undoubtedly tarnished the international reputation of the British Army and to some extent the British nation too".

A panel of seven officers at the court martial in Germany found Lance corporal Kenyon, 33, guilty of three charges.

They were aiding and abetting another soldier Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, who had previously pleaded guilty, to assault a prisoner and failing to report it.

He was also found guilty of prejudicing good order and military discipline by failing to report Cooley for the forklift truck incident and failing to report that soldiers under his command had forced two naked prisoners to simulate sex in pictures to graphic to show.

Kenyon was cleared of two charges of aid and abetting soldiers who have never been identified to forces two naked Iraqi prisoners to simulate sex.

And Mark Cooley, a 25-year-old lance corporal in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was found guilty two charges. One was of misconduct and the other of disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind after he drove a forklift truck with a bound Iraqi suspended from the prongs.

Their sentences will be handed out on Friday morning and the judge advocate said they could face jail for up to two years.

The five-week-long court-martial at a British army base in Germany was held after charges were filed relating to the abuse of Iraqi civilians who suspected of looting a humanitarian aid warehouse outside Basra in May 2003.

Photographs of the incidents caused shame and outrage in the UK and were labelled “Britain’s Abu Ghraib” in comparison with abuse of Iraqi prisoners conducted by American soldiers at a prison in Baghdad.

Third defendant, Lance corporal Darren Larkin, 30, had pleaded guilty to one count of battery, acknowledging he was the man shown in a photo standing with both feet on a tied-up Iraqi lying on the ground.

He is awaiting sentencing but the judge advocate indicated that he faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison.

Judge Advocate Hunter said: "For Corporal Kenyon a term of imprisonment of two years. On Lance Corporal Cooley, likewise, a term of imprisonment of two years.

"In the case of Lance Corporal Larkin a maximum sentence is a term of imprisonment of six months. "These being the maximum terms by law for these offences. As you may be aware, we cannot in these circumstances pass any consecutive sentences. "Consecutive sentences can only be passed by General Court Martial when there are two or more civil offences which there are not here."

And a fourth soldier, Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who took the photos, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail in the case. Judge Michael Hunter today lifted reporting restrictions on Bartlam’s trial.

The sick pictures came to light after Bartlam returned to Britain and took his films to be developed at a high street store. Film laboratory workers in Bartlam’s home town of Tamworth called in the police. Bartlam, 20, had pleaded guilty to taking the pictures and helping to tie an Iraqi to a forklift truck.

Sentencing him Judge Advocate Michael Hunter said: "You were a willing participant in this very brutal and very cruel act. "Anyone with a shred of human decency would be revolted by what is contained in those pictures. "We appreciate that you were the young soldier of the section. There were others who were senior to you in both age and rank. "We appreciate that you may have been subject to some peer pressure to remain at the scene whilst these acts were taking place, but you did more than simply remain at the scene. "You actually took photos of these unfortunate men and you admit, in relation to all of these charges, encouraging others who were actively participating in this deplorable activity. "The actions of you and those responsible for these acts have undoubtedly tarnished the international reputation of the British Army and to some extent the British nation too, and it will no doubt hamper the efforts of those who are now risking their lives striving to achieve stability in the Gulf region, and it will probably be used by those who are working against such ends."

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