Former soldier: Abuse of Iraqis was ‘widespread’

THE only soldier convicted over the death of Iraqi hotel worker Baha Mousa yesterday described widespread abuse of prisoners by British troops, including an officer.

Former corporal Donald Payne told the public inquiry into Mousa’s death that he witnessed Lieutenant Craig Rodgers punching or kicking a group of detainees and even pretending to set one of them alight.

Payne also claimed Lieut Col Jorge Mendonca, commanding officer of the former 1st Battalion Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (1QLR) in Iraq in 2003, was “gung ho” and “trigger happy”.