Diplomats stalled the hunt for the killers of six Red Caps in Iraq because they wanted to be politically correct and save the savages from the gallows.
They blocked Army cops from handing Iraqi authorities vital case files that identified the culprits - so there would be no arrests. Foreign Office bosses insisted the 18-month delay was necessary to prevent the barbaric tribesmen from facing the death penalty as that would breach THEIR human rights. A deal done behind closed doors last year means the killers can now only face life in jail. The files on them were handed over at that time. The delay in the investigation into the massacre almost three years ago now means families may never see justice. It has given key suspects for the horrendous crime time to flee and made it far harder to secure any convictions in court as witnesses' recall of events will have diminished. The revelation is a bombshell disappointment for the families just 24 hours after they heard at an inquest the sickening details of how their loved ones died. They last night dubbed it "yet another disgusting betrayal". The Red Caps were murdered by a mob in the police station of hotspot town Majar al Kabir in lawless Maysan province. The victims were Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, Cpl Russell Aston, 30, Cpl Paul Long, 24, Cpl Simon Miller, 21, Lance Cpl Benjamin Hyde, 23, and Lance Cpl Thomas Keys, 20. The retained case files include witness statements, addresses and forensic evidence that pin the murders on seven suspects. An eighth has died since the bloody shoot-out on June 24, 2003, sources have revealed. With the handover of power to the Iraqi government in 2004, the Royal Military Police's Special Investigations Branch were forced to hand over the hunt for the killers to the Iraqi authorities. Axed defence secretary Geoff Hoon told MPs an investigating judge would be appointed in Iraq's Central Criminal Court in Baghdad to take the probe on. But any Iraqi judge was powerless to issue arrest warrants while the evidence against the seven suspects was being kept back. Reg Keys, father of Lance Cpl Thomas - who suffered 31 different gunshot wounds - said: "It simply beggars belief that our Government has put the rights of a bunch of bloodthirsty animals before six soldiers who gave their life for their country. "It is yet another disgusting betrayal, and I am furious." The Foreign Office said: "This is a complex case. "The Government has to make sure we comply with human rights obligations. One of those is the death penalty." Source
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