Red Cap son killed by mob 'betrayed' by Iraqi justice

Ben Hyde, 23, from Northallerton, was among six British military policemen who died in 2003 when 400 rioters stormed the police station where they were trapped in Majar al-Kabir, in southern Iraq.

Lance Corporal Hyde and his colleagues, who had only a handful of small arms between them and insufficient ammunition, bore the brunt of the wrath of a crowd enraged by a running battle nearby between local people and British paratroopers.

It was the biggest single loss of life in the British Army since the Falklands War and relatives of those who died had fought a long campaign for justice.

But yesterday Mr Hyde's worst fears came true as the last two suspects were cleared by judges who said all they could do was prosecute one for stealing a gun from the murdered men.

Two of those allegedly involved, Hamza Hateer and Mussa Ismael al Fartusi, were due to stand trial at the central criminal court in Baghdad yesterday.

But the case was dropped owing to a lack of evidence after Chief Justice Baleagh Hamdi Hikmat said there were no eyewitnesses to link the men to the killings.

A trio of judges heard evidence from nine people – mostly Iraqi police – but none was able to testify they actually witnessed the killings, although one said he saw one defendant carrying the weapon of a dead British soldier.

The court said it would pursue charges on the theft, but the charges were dropped over the deaths of L/Cpl Hyde; Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, from Surrey; Cpl Russell Aston, 30, from Derbyshire; Cpl Paul Long, 24, and Cpl Simon Miller, 21, both from Tyneside, and Lance Cpl Tom Keys, 20, who was from North Wales.

Ben's father John Hyde, 62, who lives with his wife, Sandra, in Northallerton, said yesterday: "I'm completely astonished.

"Quite honestly these people just haven't been in court long enough to be able to prove their innocence, which obviously asks the question why did the judge decide to bring it to court then dismiss it so quickly?

"There are still seven arrest warrants outstanding, but it is like there's no will on behalf of the Iraqi authorities to pursue those warrants."

The father of Corporal Simon Miller said he was devastated by the news and criticised the decision to deny the families access to the court.

He also attacked the UK Government over their handling of the case and its alleged failure to keep relatives informed.

John Miller, 59, from Washington, near Sunderland, said: "My son was let down so badly in life, now he has been let down so badly in death. I'm devastated, I just can't believe it.

"I don't understand how this can happen." He added that he felt let down by the Government over the case, adding that he had heard nothing from British authorities yesterday, despite the families being told they would be updated by email.

The tragedy unfolded when the soldiers were assigned to train police in the town of Majar al-Kabir, about 120 miles north of Basra, in the months after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

A British inquest in 2006 concluded the soldiers had been given substandard equipment, including inadequate radio communications. Eight Iraqis were belatedly arrested in connection with the killings but earlier this year murder charges were dropped against all but the two men. At an inquest in March 2006, Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a narrative verdict of unlawful killing, saying the six soldiers should have been better equipped but their deaths could not have been avoided.