Death sentence for ex-soldier

Joshua French, 28, who has dual UK and Norwegian nationality, and his friend, Tjostolv Moland, 29, were originally told last year they faced execution by firing squad after being found guilty of espionage and murder.

The sentences were quashed in April but a second military trial was ordered. At proceedings labelled a "farce" by campaigners, the men were yesterday handed multiple death sentences.

French and Moland are blamed by authorities in DR Congo for the death of Abedi Kasongo, who had been hired to drive the two former soldiers after their motorbike broke down in April last year. The 47-year-old driver was shot in the head 70 miles east of Kisangani.

French and Moland denied responsibility and claimed unknown gunmen ambushed them in a dense rainforest.

The prosecution told the courts Moland wrote a letter confessing he was a spy and was responsible for killing Kasongo. But the letter has never been given to his defence team.

French, who spent his childhood in Kent, trained as a UK paratrooper. He served with the Norwegian Army before becoming a security guard.