Gun theft soldier jailed after judge rules he lied over stress

Corporal Harry Killick, 37, pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon and stealing a firearm and ammunition from a TA barracks in Brighton, East Sussex, in January.

He claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing people killed and injured during a tour of duty lasting just under six months.

Killick faced a mandatory jail term of at least five years but his lawyer suggested he be handed a more lenient two-year suspended jail sentence with a requirement he undergo therapeutic treatment.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall was asked to apply “exceptional” circumstances to Killick who had told police, the probation service and psychiatrists about horrors he had seen in Afghanistan.

Following his pleas of guilty and after mitigation was made on his behalf in court, sentencing was adjourned earlier this year to establish appropriate possible treatments for Killick.

Yesterday Judge Scott-Gall, sitting at Lewes Crown Court at the end of a Newton hearing after Killick’s version of events was called into question, concluded that he had lied about his time in Afghanistan. The judge said: “Why would Harry Killick, a top-rate soldier, lie and exaggerate about events?

“Certainly not to get himself out of a prison sentence, it’s submitted, and certainly not to reduce a sentence of five years.

“In many areas which have been covered, the defendant has been accurate and truthful, but in my judgment, in the critical areas, he has not. I’m quite satisfied that this defendant began this process by telling lies and he was hoisted to some extent ... and has sought to continue these lies because he had no other alternative.

“I hope I’m not being unfair to members of his family who no doubt support him to the hilt, hence the Help Harry campaign.”

Killick’s lies included that he had witnessed comrades from the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment killed and injured. He also insisted he had to take part in the grisly task of retrieving DNA from the body parts of an insurgent killed in a battle.