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UK ordered to hold inquests into civilian deaths during Iraq war

By Sharon Black

High court rules that up to 161 allegedly unlawful killings by British military should be subject of coroner-style hearings A series of public inquests should be held into the deaths of civilians who are alleged to have been killed unlawfully by the British military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the high court has ruled. In a ground-breaking judgment that could have an impact on how the British military is able to conduct operations among civilians in the future, the court ruled on Friday that up to 161 deaths should be the subject of hearings modelled upon coroners’ inquests.

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Help for Heroes donations deluge crashes website after Woolwich murder

By Sharon Black

Military support charity inundated with calls and web traffic over soldier killed while wearing Help for Heroes top Help for Heroes has been swamped with donations, leading to its website crashing, after Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered while wearing one of the charity’s tops. Supporters of the military charity took to social networks in an attempt to boost its coffers after the 25-year-old was killed in Woolwich, south-east London, on Wednesday

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Lee Rigby: an ordinary soldier who died in extraordinary circumstances

By Sharon Black

Woolwich attack victim who served in Afghanistan during one of worst periods of fighting, dies on London street Lee Rigby was born in Manchester, spent a year in Cyprus, and served for six months in Afghanistan with the military during one of the most violent periods of the 12-year-long conflict. His friends and family could never have imagined that the 25-year-old would lose his life in broad daylight, on a busy London street, at the hands of two men wielding knives and boasting allegiance to a virulent form of Islamist extremism.

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Woolwich attack victim was serving soldier, police confirm

By Sharon Black

Officials have contacted relatives of dead man, who is believed to have served in Afghanistan Scotland Yard has confirmed that the victim of the Woolwich machete attack was a serving soldier. Though he has not yet been formally named, the Guardian understands he had undertaken one six-month tour of Afghanistan and was stationed at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich

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Woolwich killing: horror on John Wilson Street

By Sharon Black

Eyewitnesses in shock as two men hack soldier to death in full public view, then ask for passersby to take photographs of them A meat cleaver is clasped in his blood-smeared left hand; the other – also stained red with human blood – waves manically as he shouts at the camera, ranting his justification for the atrocity on the streets of south-east London. At about the same time, in the nearby Musgrave primary school, the headteacher David Dixon ordered a lockdown after seeing the body of a man – believed to be a young soldier – lying on John Wilson street. If there was any doubt why this young man, who witnesses said was aged in his early 20s and wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt, had lost his life in such a brutal fashion, that was soon quashed

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British man jailed for killing soldier David Lee Collins in Cyprus

By Sharon Black

Mohammed Abdulkadir Osman jailed for eight years for stabbing British soldier to death during fight at Ayia Napa nightclub A Manchester man has been jailed for eight years for the manslaughter of a British soldier in Cyprus, the Ministry of Defence says. David Lee Collins, 19, was stabbed to death after a fight broke out in a nightclub in the popular resort of Ayia Napa last November

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Falklands war: new study debunks claims of high suicide rates

By Sharon Black

• Suicide rate of veterans similar to that of general population • Vets more healthy than population as a whole • Health care and protecting soldiers increase cost of conflict • Questions over role of army in future conflicts The claim, often repeated in the media and by veterans’ groups, that more Falklands vets had killed themselves than died fighting in the actual conflict, has been roundly rejected by a study especially commissioned by the Ministry of Defence. For years there have been reports that the suicide toll of Falklands vets exceeded the 255 who were killed in action during the conflict thirty years ago. The MoD statistical study, released on Tuesday, concludes that the risk of dying as a result of suicide for the Falklands vets was no different from the general population of the UK

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British troops face longer tours in Afghanistan

By Sharon Black

Up to 3,500 troops’ time will be extended by nearly half to ensure smooth handover to Afghan forces next year, say commanders Up to 3,500 British troops will have their tours in Helmand province extended by nearly half as part of the UK’s plans to hand over security to Afghan forces and end all combat operations next year, ministers will announce on Tuesday.

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Royal official handling press charter won damages over reporter’s SAS claim

By Sharon Black

Queen’s private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt won high court libel action against John Pilger and Central TV in 1991 The senior royal official tasked with handling the creation of a royal charter to regulate the press is a former military intelligence officer who successfully sued an investigative journalist who had sought to question his activities in Cambodia in the 1980s.

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The brutal death of Baha Mousa

By Sharon Black

Orwell prize-shortlisted author AT Williams on why he felt compelled to spend years investigating the death of an Iraqi civilian in a British army base in Basra in 2003 Baha Mousa was just a name at first.

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Fake bomb detector salesman sentenced to 10 years

By Sharon Black

Survivors of Iraq attacks to seek £7m compensation as judge describes fraud as ‘callous confidence trick’ The survivors of lethal Baghdad truck bombs driven through checkpoints equipped with fake bomb detectors are to lay claim to at least £7m of the assets of the Somerset fraudster who sold them. An Old Bailey judge sentenced Jim McCormick, 57, to 10 years in jail on Thursday for a fraud he described as the worst he could imagine and “a callous confidence trick”. Now a list of around 200 people either injured or related to the 95 killed in a double bombing on the Iraqi ministries of justice and foreign affairs in 2009 will be presented to the UK authorities

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SAS sniper Danny Nightingale gets retrial over illegally possessing pistol

By Sharon Black

Sergeant Danny Nightingale pleaded not guilty to charges after having conviction quashed by appeal court judges An SAS sniper faces a retrial over illegally possessing a pistol and ammunition – despite a last-minute claim prosecutors acted improperly by consulting on the case. Sergeant Danny Nightingale on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition.

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Afghanistan bomb: UK to ‘look carefully’ at use of vehicles

By Sharon Black

Cameron pays tribute to three British soldiers killed by bomb and says effectiveness of armoured vehicles will be assessed David Cameron has said the government will “look carefully” at the use of heavily armoured vehicles after three British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while travelling in a Mastiff troop carrier. The prime minister paid tribute to the soldiers and said British troops have paid a “very high price” in Afghanistan

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Afghan blast kills British troops

By Sharon Black

Three dead after roadside bomb attack on patrol vehicle in Helmand province, Ministry of Defence confirms Three British soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. The soldiers were on a routine patrol when their vehicle was struck by an improvised bomb in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, on Tuesday, the military said.

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British troops to Syria unlikely despite evidence of chemical weapons use – PM

By Sharon Black

David Cameron reiterates President Obama’s claim that issue is a ‘red line’ but says ground forces will not be sent to conflict British troops are unlikely to be sent to Syria despite “limited but growing evidence” that chemical weapons have been used in the country’s civil war , David Cameron has said. The prime minister agreed with Barack Obama that the issue was a “red line”, but said he neither wanted nor expected it to precipitate the deployment of UK forces.

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UK starts controlling drones in Afghanistan from British soil

By Sharon Black

RAF’s unmanned Reaper aircraft had been operated from Creech airforce base in Nevada, but missions from Lincolnshire began this week Remotely controlled armed drones used to target insurgents in Afghanistan have been operated from the UK for the first time, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. Missions of the missile-carrying Reaper aircraft began from a newly built headquarters at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire earlier this week – five years after the MoD bought the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to monitor and attack the Taliban.

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MoD poised to privatise part of troubled defence procurement process

By Sharon Black

Announcement expected to say that everyday management of Defence Equipment & Support will be handed to private sector Ministers are poised to announce the next stage of controversial reforms that will give private firms a chance to run the organisation that buys and supplies billions of pounds’ worth of defence equipment to the British military. The Treasury has given the green light to proposals that will open up the possibility of part-privatising Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) , the body within the Ministry of Defence in charge of procuring everything from new warships to lightbulbs

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Why do the British armed forces still allow 16-year-olds to enlist?

By Sharon Black

Charities have accused the Ministry of Defence of recruiting child soldiers, but it argues that military life offers a wide range of benefit to under-18s In the UK, 16-year-olds cannot vote, drive a car or drink alcohol. But they can join the army, and this week two charities, Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch, accused the Ministry of Defence of perpetuating the ” outdated ” practice of recruiting children into the forces.The charities argued that the government was wasting taxpayers’ money – as much as £94m a year – recruiting 16-year-olds into the army

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British holidaymaker pleads guilty to killing UK soldier in Cyprus

By Sharon Black

Mohammed Abdulkadir Osman, 19, admits manslaughter of Fusilier David Lee Collins, 19, in Ayia Napa A British tourist has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a UK soldier in Cyprus, a court official has said. Fusilier David Lee Collins, 19, from Manchester, was stabbed to death after a fight broke out in a nightclub in the popular resort of Ayia Napa, last November. Mohammed Abdulkadir Osman, 19, reportedly from London, admitted manslaughter at a court hearing in Larnaca, Photini Larcou, registrar of the court, said.

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The Falklands funeral: how Margaret Thatcher’s military legacy was reflected

By Sharon Black

All regiments involved in funeral for former prime minister had link to south Atlantic conflict Lady Thatcher wanted her funeral to have a Falklands theme, and though no details were thrashed out before her death, the Ministry of Defence had a good idea which units would have to be involved when the planning for the ceremony began. All of the regiments taking part played an important role during the conflict in the south Atlantic – a reflection of the fact that their sacrifices, and successes, underpinned the former prime minister’s significant military legacy.

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Anti-Trident campaigners blockade naval base

By Sharon Black

Protesters chain themselves to gates at Faslane after calling for Trident budget to fund welfare, education and health instead Police have arrested 47 people protesting outside a naval base where nuclear weapons are stored. Campaigners chained themselves to each other and blocked the entrance of the Faslane base in Argyll, home of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons. The Scrap Trident coalition wants Scotland to be allowed to “lead the way to a world free of nuclear weapons” and more than 100 of its supporters demonstrated outside the base.