Iraq

Inquest into deaths of three British bodyguards abducted in Iraq

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An inquest into the deaths of three bodyguards who were taken hostage in Iraq in 2007 has gone ahead today.

Alec MacLachlan, 30, from Llanelli, south Wales, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, 39, originally from Glasgow, were abducted with 36-year-old computer expert Peter Moore, whom they were guarding, by militants posing as police at the Iraqi finance ministry in May 2007.

The three bodies were passed to British authorities in the country in 2009. Mr Moore was released alive on December 30 the same year, 946 days after he was kidnapped.

A fourth bodyguard, Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, is also believed to have been killed.

It was widely reported at the time that the hostages were taken over the border into Iran after their kidnap, where they were held by the country's Revolutionary Guard.

But Mr Moore later said he believed he was held in Baghdad and Basra, moving from house to house every three months.

He said he made more than a dozen "proof of life" videos, only one of which was made public.

The inquest, which took place at Trowbridge Town Hall in Wiltshire, heard that on May 29 2007, the four bodyguards collected Mr Moore and a fellow IT consultant, Peter Donkin, believed to be an American, from their accommodation in the green zone of Baghdad.

Armed with automatic rifles and pistols, they escorted the pair to the ministry of finance where they were helping to install a new financial IT system.

The inquest heard that at about 11.40am between 50 and 100 armed men, dressed in police and military uniforms, converged on the building and took the four bodyguards and Mr Moore hostage.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Moles, of the counter-terrorism branch of New Scotland Yard who has led the investigation into the deaths, said that the bodyguards would have been taken by surprise as it was not unusual for police to enter the building.

He described how some of the militia walked into the building and only at the "last second" pulled their weapons on the bodyguards.

Mr Moles said: "It gave them no chance to challenge them and sadly they were very quickly overpowered.

"Even as highly trained, ex-military close-protection officers, they could have taken no action to prevent their kidnap."

Mr Moles described how the five men were driven away in two vehicles and stripped to their underwear while their clothes and personal belongings were thrown from the vehicle.

He said that some of the militia then returned to the building looking for Mr Donkin and said: "Where is the American?"

He explained that staff at the ministry had hidden him in a compartment under the floor and kept him safe out of sight until the gunmen had left, enabling him to evade being kidnapped.

Mr Moles said that after Mr Moore was released in 2009, he gave a very detailed description during a three-and-a-half week debrief of his time as a hostage.

He described how all five of them were subjected to "terrifying" mock executions and were held chained and blindfolded for long periods.

Mr Moles said that Mr Moore described how the hostages were split into groups and moved to different locations every few months.

He said that the bodyguards, using their military experience, believed they were in the Basra area because they could recognise the type of artillery being fired in the area as being British.

And a letter was later found in a building close to Basra from Mr Creswell to his daughter Maddison and former partner Jane.

Mr Moles said that the letter was found in a secret room in the building behind a false wall.

He said a cache of terrorist weapons, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs), rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and guns, was also found at the premises and six Iraqis were arrested.