I’ve had enough!
Major facing 8th Iraq probe refuses to talk to inquiry
A DECORATED Army major who faces an eighth investigation over the death of an Iraqi teenager said he will never speak about the incident again.
Major Robert Campbell, 45, has vowed not to cooperate with probes into the events in 2003 – even if called before a judge-led inquiry.
Last night it emerged he could be charged with contempt of court for refusing to attend a hearing, the penalty for which is a fine or imprisonment.
Major Campbell and two colleagues have been relentlessly investigated – and cleared – over the drowning of Said Shabram, 19, in Basra in May 2003. They have now been told they will be forced to give evidence to the Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI) unit.
The bomb- disposal expert told Radio 4’ s Today programme: ‘On legal advice from my lawyers, and personally, I have decided I am never going to speak of that day again.
‘And I mean that, I’m never going to discuss that day again with anyone ever. I fully accounted for myself in my statement in 2004 and it has been examined and pored over and dissected by prosecutors, police forces and investigations. I don’t feel I need to justify myself any further.
‘If it has been thrown out by three separate sets of prosecutors then I don’t feel I need to rehearse it all over again.’
The major, who still serves in the Royal Engineers but returned his medals in disgust, added: ‘I don’t think anything good is going to come out of this. What I want more than anything is a good night’s sleep and I haven’t had one for 15 years.
‘My mental health is not the best and I think it is unreasonable for the MoD to expect me to go over these things over and over and over.’
Sir George Newman, the retired judge who is leading the inquiry, has the power to apply to the High Court to compel a witness to attend. If they refuse to co- operate they can be charged with contempt of court, insiders said – raising the prospect of Major Campbell being imprisoned.
General Lord Dannatt, former chief of the general staff, said it was an ‘outrage’ the investigation had gone on so long.
The Daily Mail has campaigned for an end to the witchhunt against troops, revealing how hundreds of innocent soldiers have been dragged through investigations.
Major Campbell and his colleagues were accused of forcing the Iraqi teenager, who was accused of looting, into a river – a claim denied by all three. They first faced questions during a three-year Royal Military Police investigation that began in 2003. In 2006 the file was passed to the Army Prosecuting Authority, which did not take the case any further.
The death was then investigated in the 2008 Aitken Report, before the Provost Marshal (Army) began a new probe in 2010. Around the same time law firm Leigh Day mounted civil action against the MoD on behalf of the teenager’s family.
They were awarded £100,000, but the MoD did not admit liability. In 2014 the taxpayerfunded Iraq Historical Allegations Team (Ihat) took on the case after being passed the file by the now- defunct Public Interest Lawyers.
By February 2016 Major Campbell said he was no longer fit for service, at which point the file was passed to the Services Prosecuting Authority, which decided in December not to bring charges. Then Major Campbell received an email, with a letter attached from the MoD, informing him that he would now be called before Sir George as part of a fresh inquiry.
He has written to the IFI to say he will not co- operate, instead referring the body to a statement he gave in 2004.