Hero tells of `breaking up Iraq abuse'.

A WAR hero was ``disgusted'' with himself for not reporting the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, a court heard today.

Sergeant Thomas Simon broke up the alleged abuse after finding two naked male prisoners surrounded by laughing soldiers.

He said he felt revulsion and shock at the scene and immediately told the captured men to put their clothes back on. The evidence was heard at the court martial in Osnabruck, Germany, of three British soldiers who are accused of abusing and assaulting prisoners at Camp Bread Basket, in Basra, in May 2003.

Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, both from Newcastle upon Tyne, and Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, are all facing the court martial for the alleged abuse and assault of the Iraqi prisoners.

Kenyon and Cooley deny all the charges.

Larkin admits one charge of assaulting an unknown male but denies forcing two Iraqi males to undress in front of others.

Sgt Simon, who was a corporal at the time and had been mentioned in dispatches, told the court he saw L/Cpl Larkin laughing at the naked men.

He said: ``He was just stood there. Before I got there I could hear him laughing or what I assumed to be laughing. As I got closer, the laughing increased. ''

After realising what was happening, he went over to the Iraqis and gestured to them to put their clothes on.

(Proceeding)

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Publication:	Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England)
Date:	Jan 28, 2005
Words:	238
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