Army major cleared over Iraqi’s death after 17 years

Witnesses ‘colluded against him’

AN ARMY major investigated eight times over the death of an Iraqi teenager 17 years ago has finally been exonerated.

A senior judge concluded that witnesses had colluded against Major Robert Campbell to pervert the course of justice.

The decorated soldier was questioned – and repeatedly cleared – as part of several different probes into the drowning of 19-year-old Said Shabram in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2003. But a report published yesterday concluded there was no reliable evidence that British soldiers were responsible for Mr Shabram’s death.

Former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Heather Hallett, who led the probe, said it was possible that the Iraqi teenager’s fambell, ily had been misled by false witnesses who claimed he had been pushed into the water.

She said it was ‘ most likely’ that Mr Shabram ‘jumped or fell’ into the water in the process of trying to escape what he believed would be ‘dire punishment’ for looting.

The report also found the military was aware that witnesses ‘had colluded and were dishonest’ as long ago as 2006, raising questions about why Major Campbell’s ordeal continued for another 14 years. Major Campin who suffers from PTSD, hearing loss and multiple physical injuries, said the allegations had ‘destroyed’ his career.

‘I am relieved that after eight investigations we have finally been exonerated,’ he told the BBC. ‘But I am angry that it took eight investigations, 17 years and destroyed my career.

‘I’m angry that the Army and MoD [ Ministry of Defence] abandoned us. Angry that despite the two key Iraqi “witnesses” being exposed as liars

2006, the MoD and Iraq Historical Allegations Team chose to believe them anyway and ground us into the dust.

‘I’m grateful to Baroness Hallett for her findings, but I already knew I was innocent.’

Major Campbell first faced questions in 2003 by the Royal Military Police. In 2006 the findings of the inquiry were handed to the Army Prosecuting Authority, who decided not to take the case any further.

But two years later he found himself under scrutiny from a MoD investigation. In 2010 the Provost Martial started a new probe. Major Campbell went on to endure several other investigations over the next decade.

The Daily Mail has condemned the unjust hounding of troops through the paper’s Witch-hunt Against Our Heroes campaign.

Major Campbell handed back his service medals after being told of the eighth probe. He has accused ministers of using soldiers as ‘political fodder’.