Bigley escaped before murder, say sources

The Foreign Office today refused to discuss reports that Iraq hostage Ken Bigley managed to escape briefly before being recaptured and beheaded.

The Reuters news agency quoted “insurgent sources” as saying Mr Bigley managed to get away for about half an hour with the help of one of his captors, before he was recaptured in farmland near the town of Latifiya, south-west of Baghdad.