SAS faces charges over secret mission to find Red Cap killers in Basra
Up to 40 troops including an SAS commander face charges of actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm
A GROUP of SAS soldiers who tried to hunt down the killers of six British Red Caps in Iraq in 2003 could face prosecution after a four-year investigation.
Up to 40 elite troops, including a former SAS commander, face charges of actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm and if found guilty, they could be jailed.
Next month, Ministry of Defence police will hand a file to the military's prosecution service which recommends soldiers should be charged with assaulting Iraqi policeman, the .
It will be first time an investigation involving the SAS in Iraq has been deemed serious enough to be passed to the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA).
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Six Royal Military Policemen were executed by ringleaders of a baying mob in Majar al-Kabir, near Basra, southern Iraq, in June 2003, weeks after Saddam Hussein was toppled. Some of their bodies were riddled with bullets while others had marks suggesting they had been dragged, tied up, or beaten with rifles.
The murdered men were identified as: Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41; Cpl Russell Aston, 30; Cpl Paul Long, 24; Cpl Simon Miller, 21; L/Cpl Benjamin McGowan Hyde, 23; and L/Cpl Tom Keys, 20.
Six days after they were slaughtered, SAS soldiers were sent to hunt their killers and went undercover to try and convince Iraqi policemen that they were friends of the murdered men.
During the operation, the policemen claimed they were beaten with rifles and punched.
In 2012, nine years later, the Ministry of Defence police launched an investigation and 40 troops and a former SAS commanding officer was placed under investigation over the allegations.
The Iraqi officers involved were awarded around £800,000 in compensation by the MOD in a secret payout.
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