Scots subjected to mock executions before being killed

Published on Tuesday 21 June 2011 18:58

Scottish security guard Jason Creswell - who was shot dead in Iraq after being held hostage for a year - suffered mock executions during his ordeal, an inquest has heard.

Mr Creswell, 38, and colleagues Alan McMenemy, 34 - a fellow Scot - Jason Swindlehurst, 39, and Alec MacLachlan, 30, were protecting computer programmer Peter Moore in Baghdad when they were captured in May 2007.

They were employed as security guards by the Canadian security firm GardaWorld when a gang of militiamen posing as police stormed a government building.

The men were subjected to horrific treatment during their capture, Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner's Court in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, heard yesterday.

All three security guards were eventually executed, while Mr Moore was released in December 2009 after two years and seven months in captivity.

Mr McMenemy, from Glasgow, has never been found and is presumed dead.

Chief Inspector Mark Moles, of the SO15 counter-terrorism unit at Scotland Yard, went through a statement given by Mr Moore detailing the torture the men had suffered.

He said: "They were all subjected to mock executions. This saw them placed on their knees, blindfolded, a gun pointed to their heads and a different gun firing off elsewhere in the room. This caused immense trauma.

"They were always chained by their feet to a rail or bar and blindfolded for long periods.

"Mr Moore last saw the two Jasons alive on 8 July, 2007. In October he got chance to ask how his fellow hostages were.

"He was told they had been killed trying to escape or had been killed during a rescue attempt by American or British forces." Both men were shot dead months later.

Mr Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, suffered two gunshot wounds to the head and one to the chest. He was assessed to have died between February and June 2008.

Mr Creswell, also from Glasgow, was believed to have been killed to make it appear he was shot while running away trying to escape.

However, forensic officers found it more likely he died from three shots to his chest and abdomen while kneeling with his hands on his head.

There were also gunshot wounds on his ankle and thigh. He is thought to have died between February and May 2008.

Their bodies were handed over to authorities at a Baghdad police station in June 2009.

The body of Mr Maclachlan, 30, of Llanelli, Wales, was recovered on 1 September, 2009. He had been shot twice in the head.

The five contractors had been seized by "between 50 and 100 men" at the Iraqi finance ministry in the dangerous red zone in Baghdad, Mr Hughes said.

Mr Moore, 36, of Lincoln, was working in the building for the US firm Bearing Point, teaching Iraqi officials a new IT system.

Their captors, believed to be Shia militiamen, were all armed and wearing police uniforms.

Chief Insp Moles said the four security guards would not have been aware of the ambush as officials in police uniform entered the building constantly.

He said: "All were patrolling different parts of the building. They would have had no cause to have suspicion as police and military entered the building all the time.

"It wouldn't have been until the very last moments that they would have pulled their weapons in defence.

"The attack gave them no chance to act, no chance to challenge, no chance to take any action to prevent their kidnap."The five men were bundled into two vehicles. One report said they were beaten and one was hit in the knees with a rifle.

They were driven away, stripped to their underwear and all their personal effects were thrown out of the vehicles.

Once blindfolded, it is thought the men may have been transported to Basra, or a major city south of Baghdad, as tests revealed their bodies contained high levels of lead, in line with the dust they would inhale.

On 29 July, 2009, it was revealed that Mr Maclachlan and Mr McMenemy had been murdered.

Their captors were demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and release of Iraqi prisoners in exchange for the hostages' release.

Mr Moore was freed after the American military released Iraqi leaders as part of a reconciliation process.

The hearing continues.