US Private Lynndie England suffered from depression and her mental condition, coupled with an overly compliant personality, made her a heedless participant in abuse of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison, a psychologist told her military trial.

Defence lawyers appealed for leniency for Private Lynndie England at a hearing to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, saying the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech-impaired and had trouble learning to read.