Britain to send more soldiers to Iraq
MORE UK troops will be deployed to Iraq this year to prevent Isis from regaining a foothold in the country, it emerged yesterday.
About 400 British personnel are currently stationed in Iraq in a non-combat role.
But yesterday Nato defence chiefs agreed to increase their total force to 3,500, meaning more UK troops will be required.The exact number to be deployed is yet to be decided.
The Ministry of Defence said Britain will “continue to support the Nato mission, providing professional military training to the Iraqi security forces, which is being expanded to cover more Iraqi Government institutions”. UK personnel have trained more than 120,000 Iraqi and Kurdish security forces as part of efforts to counter insurgents in the region.
Defence ministers also vowed to continue supporting the Nato and UN operations ongoing in Afghanistan.
Defence Secretary BenWallace said: “The UK Government remains resolute in our support to the government of Afghanistan in the face of unacceptable Taliban violence.
“We are determined to ensure that conditions are met for achieving a lasting political settlement.
“This is the only means of ensuring security from terrorism for the people of Afghanistan, the United Kingdom and its Allies.”
HEDGE fund tycoon Crispin Odey groped a banker “like an octopus”, a court heard yesterday.
The woman claimed Odey pushed her on to her back before assaulting her with a “scramble of hands”.
Odey, 62, is said to have put his hand down the woman’s blouse and touched her breast, as well as putting a hand up her skirt.
The incident is alleged to have happened at the multi-millionaire’s home in Chelsea, west London, in July 1998.
He had invited the investment banker, in her 20s, back to his house following a business meeting with the alleged victim.
Married Odey denies indecent
assault but agrees he propositioned the young woman, London’s Hendon magistrates court heard.
The tycoon said he had “probably misread the signals”.
Under cross-examination yesterday, the alleged victim said: “He was next to me…the first thing I remember was actually on my back. Then it was like a scramble of hands, it was like a groping event.”
She added: “I can’t remember the exact sequence, I just remember the general attempt to get involved with my body and on top of me with his hands.
“I referred to it like an octopus experience. I don’t remember the exact choreography.”
Crispin Aylett, QC, defending, challenged her version of events and asked: “Or is it the case this didn’t happen at all and that’s why you can’t remember the choreography?”
The woman replied: “Well, disagree on that.”
The court was told the alleged victim had wrongly assumed Odey’s wife would be at his home. Once in his we house he changed out of showered and put on a robe.
Odey, who founded Odey Asset Management in 1991, was interviewed by police in March 2019, and strenuously denied indecent assault.
In a transcript read to the court, he said: “She left because I made a lewd suggestion...I probably misread the signals. I offered her a drink and I poured her some wine.
“She said, where do you think this is all going to lead? I said, this is all going to bed. She was obviously appalled...she said, I am taken aback, and she left.”
The woman must have developed a “bitter hatred” of him, Odey said.
Mr Aylett failed to have the case dismissed and the hearing was adjourned until March 11. his suit,