Cleared ex-corporal tells of relief

Apr 27 2012

A former special forces corporal has spoken of his relief after he was formally found not guilty of punching a Taliban suspect he believed was trying to escape.

He said the case should never have been brought to court.

The paratrooper, referred to as Corporal C, said that the case had "turned his life upside down" and cost him his career.

The 31-year-old from Glasgow stood trial at Portsmouth Naval Base court martial centre on a charge of battery after he admitted punching the detainee he was interrogating while serving in Afghanistan in March 2010.

But the judge advocate, Alistair McGrigor, threw out the case on Wednesday calling the prosecution case "tenuous and weak".

The legal proceedings, which included applications to the Court Martial Court of Appeal and the High Court, are believed to have cost more than £250,000.

Cpl C, who is now understood to be working in the private security field, said: "I'm extremely relieved to have finally been cleared because I was not guilty. It is frustrating because the case should never have happened.

"Common sense should have prevailed. I have lost my career and my life has been turned upside down."

Explaining his decision to stay the trial, Judge McGrigor said: "My ruling is that the prosecution case is so tenuous and so weak that I will stop the trial at this stage."

The trial heard that Cpl C, who left the forces shortly after the incident, had been ordered to question the suspect while working from a forward operating base (FOB) in Babaji, Helmand.