Iraqi officials repeatedly asked Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants if they had ever been beaten and they answered ’no’ every time, according to an investigative judge.

An investigative judge said today that officials never saw evidence that Saddam Hussein was beaten in US custody, contradicting the ousted Iraqi leader’s claims that he was abused and “the marks are still there".

The search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq has so far drawn a blank.