Military Cross hero put in dock by ‘deliberate lies’ of accusers
FORMER Colour Sergeant Brian Wood was falsely accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners by lawyers.
Mr Wood, 39, was awarded the Military Cross for leading a bayonet charge against insurgents in the Battle of Danny Boy in May 2004.
But the action in southern Iraq later became the subject of the Al-Sweady Inquiry, based on allegations by detainees that up to 20 of them were killed or tortured.
The probe, named after one of the alleged victims, lasted five years – before concluding in December 2014 that the claims were ‘reckless speculation’ based on ‘deliberate lies’ made by the accusers.
Mr Wood, who at the time of the battle was a lance corporal in the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, has previously described the legal process that he went through as an ‘ordeal’ and said he was ‘just looking forward to getting on with my life’ afterwards.
Speaking last night, after it emerged it was ‘quite possible’ not a single Iraq veteran will be prosecuted, Mr Wood said: ‘It is absolutely disgusting that £92million has been wasted on all of this.
‘We have been betrayed by the government who sent us on operations. The public now should be asking how much of their taxes have been wasted on this pointless effort.’
Mr Wood, who also served in Afghanistan, has previously spoken of the ordeal he and his comrades have been put through by the probe.
He said: ‘It was damaging to a degree of careers, marriage split-ups and also fuelling the fire of PTSD and the trauma that we had seen on the battlefield... just to get these allegations thrown at you is a bitter pill to swallow.
‘The allegations were of the highest order – unlawful killing, mutilation and mistreatment of prisoners of war.
‘That just did not happen and I just don’t know where they got the fuel from.’