British major’s ‘unlawful’ order blamed for prisoner abuse

A BRITISH army officer was told yesterday that three soldiers stood accused of abusing Iraqi civilians because of an unlawful order he issued.

Major Dan Taylor was confronted by counsel for one of the accused at a court martial in Germany.

Joseph Giret, representing Corporal Daniel Kenyon, told him: “It is precisely your order which has resulted in soldiers being charged with a very serious offence.”

The exchange came as it emerged that Maj Taylor faced no disciplinary action himself, despite issuing the order in breach of the Geneva Convention.

The major was cleared of wrong-doing only five days before three of his soldiers were due to stand trial.

The court, in Osnabruck, heard an extract from a letter written by his commanding officer Brigadier Nick Carter on January 7, which dismissed the order as “misguided zeal.”

In the order, the major told his men to punish the looters at an aid camp in he was in charge of near Basra by “working them hard.”

Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, and Cpl Kenyon, 33, both from Newcastle upon Tyne, both deny the charges.

Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, has admitted one charge of assaulting an unknown male at the camp, but denies another charge of forcing two Iraqi males to undress in front of others.