The jihadi codenamed Cuckoo

ABUSES committed by British agents were shrouded in secrecy in the report by swapping the names of extremists for birds and replacing the foreign places involved with British towns and cities.

And it was claimed that Theresa May hampered the Intelligence and Security Committee investigation into Britain’s complicity in torture and rendition.

The Prime Minister ‘regrettably’ blocked the ISC from questioning UK spies involved in the scandal.

Her decision undermined the committee’s ability to write a ‘thorough and comprehensive’ report intended to shine a light on the country’s troubling involvement in the mistreatment of terror suspects, chairman Dominic Grieve said.

However, the ISC faced flak itself for disguising the names and nationalities of detainees involved and geographical indicators, such as where a captive was picked up or the location of an operation.

It invited mockery by giving jihadis bird codenames, such as Greenfinch, Cuckoo and Pheasant. The names of many countries and locations were replaced with UK towns and cities, including Beverley, Newbury and Winchester. The ISC launched its three-year investigation after plans for an independent inquiry led by Sir Peter Gibson collapsed in 2013. It studied documents, and interviewed former detainees and three ex-officials.

But Mr Grieve said the Government ‘denied’ the committee access to ‘officers who were involved at the time’ of the UK’s involvement in rendition.

The report said the committee requested access to 23 MI5 witnesses and a similar number of MI6 operatives.

But Mrs May imposed restrictions on who could give evidence on grounds of seniority and involvement in proceedings which reduced the list of potential witnesses to just four.

These included former home secretary David Blunkett, who had ministerial oversight of MI5, and former foreign secretary Jack Straw, who was responsible for MI6, said the report. The other two

are believed to be senior ex-spy chiefs. Bella Sankey, of campaign group Reprieve, said: ‘Dominic Grieve makes clear that he has been forced to draw a line under its inquiry after the Government refused access to key witnesses. The Prime Minister has so far shown contempt for the committee’s work and its recommendations.

‘She must now listen to cross-party calls to deliver what the Government originally promised: an independent judge-led inquiry.’

Sonya Sceats, chief executive of Freedom from Torture, added: ‘Despite a scandalous decision by the Government to shield the spies who were most closely involved, the ISC has gone as far as it could to shine a light on the role of our intelligence agencies in CIA abuse. But it makes plain that more investigations are needed.’

On using codenames, the report said: ‘It is not possible to disclose the name of detainees in the majority of the report.

‘This is to protect personal identities and to safeguard against damage to operations.’