'I thought I was dead' – Iraq hostage tells of mock execution

Published on Tuesday 26 January 2010 23:46

FREED hostage Peter Moore has described being beaten, shackled and subjected to mock executions during his captivity in Iraq.

Speaking publicly for the first time since his release, he said that, even as he was told he was going to be released, he suspected he was about to be killed.

Mr Moore was released on 30 December, 946 days after he was kidnapped. The 36-year-old computer expert, from Lincoln, had been seized along with his four British bodyguards by militants posing as police at the Iraqi finance ministry in May 2007.

The bodies of three of his bodyguards – Alec MacLachlan, 30, from Llanelli, South Wales; Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire; and Jason Creswell, 39, originally from Glasgow – were passed to UK authorities last year.

A fourth bodyguard, Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, is also believed to have been killed but his fate is still not known.

Mr Moore paid tribute to his fellow hostages and called for the return of Mr McMenemy's body.

He said: "I'm very grateful to Jason, Jason, Alec and Alan for the help and advice and the medical treatment I received following my abduction. Certainly, without that help and advice, I definitely wouldn't be stood here today."

He went on: "In 2007, it was pretty harsh. We were in chains, shackled, blindfolded, handcuffed, periodically beaten, water poured over us.

"In 2008, things got better. I was separated off from the others.

"In 2009, things were actually pretty good. Things improved a lot. I was out of the chains. I had a PlayStation and satellite TV, a laptop computer, en suite shower, toilet facilities. And ultimately I got released, so that was excellent."

Asked about his release, he said: "I didn't believe them when they first said I was being released, and then I thought I was really going to go and be executed.

"The first time I really believed I was being released was when I stepped out of the vehicle and somebody from the Foreign Office walked up to me and said they were from the Foreign Office and they were there to take me home."

He said there were "many, many times" he thought he was not going to make it out alive, adding: "One time the guards came in, handcuffed me behind my back, blindfolded me, walked me out, put a pistol to my head and pulled the trigger, and fired another one off behind my back. I just thought I was dead. And then I realised I could still hear laughing."

Mr Moore added: "There's still one body left, and obviously I ask that that body is released immediately."