Detainees ‘lied to discredit British Army’

British troops mistreated nine Iraqi detainees following a fierce battle a decade ago, but false allegations of murder and torture were the product of “deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility”, a judge-led inquiry has found.

The long-running Al-Sweady inquiry, which cost the British taxpayer £31m, concluded in its final report that the conduct of some soldiers towards detainees breached the Geneva convention.

But it was highly critical of the claims it was initially set up to investigate — that Iraqi detainees had been murdered, mutilated and tortured following the Battle of Danny Boy on May 14, 2004, near Al Amarah in southern Iraq.