No trial over Iraq shooting death of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd

THE U.S. soldier whose bullet killed ITN journalist Terry Lloyd as he covered the opening clashes of the Iraq war escaped prosecution yesterday.

A coroner ruled that the reporter had been unlawfully killed by American troops but the Crown Prosecution Service admitted yesterday it was impossible to say who fired the shot that killed the 50-year-old father of two on the outskirts of Basra in March 2003.

Head of the CPS's counter-terrorism division Sue Hemming said that after an exhaustive inquiry there was 'insufficient evidence at the current time to establish to the criminal standard the identity of the person who fired the bullet that killed Mr Lloyd'.

ITN investigations had uncovered the names of 16 marines - one of whom is likely to have fired the shot that killed the correspondent - but the U.S. authorities refused to allow the men to give evidence at the inquest in October 2006.

Mr Lloyd was in a four-wheel drive vehicle marked 'TV' when the fatal shot was fired. His widow, Lynn, branded the death a war crime. If the CPS had decided there was available evidence, it could have considered bringing a prosecution under the Geneva Convention.

'I understand that this will be very upsetting news for the family and friends of Mr Lloyd but I can reassure them that every care was taken in pursuing lines of inquiry and reviewing the evidence.'

She said the case had been an 'extremely complex and difficult investigation.'

Lloyd, 50, had been in a two-car convey carrying three ITN colleagues towards Basra after wrongly hearing of the surrender of an Iraqi armoured brigade during the first few days of the U.S.-led invasion.

They were in a war zone and their vehicles were marked 'Press,' but Lloyd was not wearing his helmet or bullet proof vest.

As the two cars crossed a bridge, Iraqi soldiers drove towards them and opened fire, the CPS said.

The cars did a U-turn to head back towards the U.S. forces, pursued by the Iraqis.

The U.S. Marines believed all the approaching vehicles were hostile and opened fire.

Lloyd, who was lying in the central reservation with a stomach wound, was picked up by a vehicle helping to evacuate wounded Iraqi soldiers and taken to hospital, but on arrival it emerged he had been fatally shot in the head, his inquest had heard.

The driver said shots were fired from the U.S. position.

'It is clear from the forensic evidence that Mr Lloyd received injuries from both Iraqi and American bullets and the forensic evidence suggests that the injury which caused his death was fired from a U.S. weapon,' Hemming added.

The investigation into his death has been controversial, with U.S. soldiers declining to attend the inquest in Oxford.

Lloyd's lawyer at the time had demanded that those responsible should be brought to trial for what he termed 'a very serious war crime.'

The crew's translator, Hussein Othman, was also killed while French cameraman Fred Nerac, is missing believed dead. The other cameraman Daniel Demoustier was the only one to survive.

An ITN spokeswoman said the company was disappointed with the CPS decision.

'Coroner Andrew Walker concluded just under two years ago that Terry Lloyd was unlawfully killed by American troops and ITN has done everything it could to try and ensure Terry's killer is brought to justice,' she said.

'We are disappointed that the CPS has decided they cannot take this matter further, and that despite the coroner's call on the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions to demand that the Americans bring the perpetrator of a possible war crime before a British court of law, the US authorities remain uncooperative.'

Lloyd had reported from Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia and Kosovo during his award-winning career.