Army major cleared over Iraqi teenager’s death af ter 17 years

Witnesses judged to have ‘colluded against him’

AN Army major who was 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 investigations 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 said in the report it was possible that the Iraqi teenager’s family had been misled by false witnesses who claimed that 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 had then continued for another 14 years.

Major Campbell, who suffers from PTSD, hearing loss and multiple physical injuries, said that 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 in 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 when he was quizzed 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 an MoD investigation. In 2010 the Provost

Marshal started a new investigation and 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 investigation.

He has accused Government ministers of using soldiers as ‘political fodder’.

Major Campbell was a lieutenant in 32 Engineer Regiment when the ground phase of Operation Iraqi

Freedom began in March 2003. In Basra he was attached to the Black Watch Battle Group.

‘If there was a practice of wetting looters amongst some members of [the Black Watch Battle Group], there is no evidence that it was widespread or that [Major Campbell] or any of the soldiers under his command had been involved in it or knew of it,’ the report said.

The term ‘wetting’ allegedly described the practice of putting Iraqis who were found looting or engaged in some other disorder into the river.

WITCH-HUNT AGAINST OUR HEROES