EXECUTED RED CAPS HAD NO GRENADES

THE six Royal Military Police executed in Iraq by a rampaging mob had their grenades and vital medical supplies taken away by Army chiefs.

The soldiers - known as Red Caps - were ordered to give up their arms and stocks of the painkiller morphine by their commanders in the field just three weeks before they died.

Military experts say if the RMPs had carried the grenades, they could have held their enemies off long enough to be rescued or even to disperse them.

An Army insider said: "The lads' main unit was going home and was ordered to hand back their surplus to the Army stores. It's a very bureaucratic organisation and everything has to be accounted for. All the grenades and morphine were handed in and were simply never handed out to anyone else.

"These lads were at the sharp end and were already having to manage without the satellite radios the Americans all get. If they'd had the kit they should have, they might be alive today."

The six who died were Lance Cpl Tom Keys, 20; Sgt Simon Hamilton- Jewell, 41; Cpl Russell Aston, 30; Cpl Paul Long, 24; Cpl Simon Miller, 21; and Lance Cpl Ben Hyde, 23. They had taken refuge in a police station in Al Majar al-Kabir, near Basra, when the riot broke out. As up to 400 Iraqis fired at them, the Red Caps held their position until they ran out of ammunition.

An Army investigation found a series of errors were made by military chiefs.

Reg Keys, whose son Tom was killed, said: "I suppose at least the truth is coming out, but it's not very palatable.

"The bosses who make these rules have to answer for their actions. I can understand the need to account for weapons, but why not redistribute it as soon as possible?

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