Negotiations continue to release hostage's body

Negotiations are continuing to release the body of the fifth British hostage seized in Iraq as the UK Foreign Office scotched claims he may still be alive.

Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, is believed to have been killed while working as a bodyguard for Peter Moore who was released on December 30.

But Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters in Baghdad: “We hope McMenemy is still alive. The government is seeking his release. That will be soon, God willing.”

The bodies of three of the bodyguards – Alec MacLachlan, 30, from Llanelli, South Wales, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, 39, originally from Glasgow – were passed to UK authorities last year.

A Foreign Office spokesman insisted their position remained unchanged and said: “We understand he has been killed and will continue to work to get his body returned as soon as possible.”

Mr Moore, a 36-year-old computer expert, from Lincoln, was seized along with his four British bodyguards by militants posing as police at the Iraqi finance ministry in May 2007.