BRITAIN: The American soldiers who shot dead the British television journalist Terry Lloyd could face trial in a British court for murder after a coroner ruled that they had unlawfully killed an innocent civilian.
Andrew Walker, the assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, said yesterday that he would be writing to the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice".
The verdict was welcomed by Lloyd's family, his employers and the National Union of Journalists. His widow, Lynn, accused US forces of allowing soldiers to "behave like trigger-happy cowboys in an area in which there were civilians travelling on a highway". In a statement, she said: "The marines who fired on civilians and those who gave those orders should now stand trial. Under the Geneva Conventions Act, that trial should be for the murder of Terry Lloyd and nothing less."
Lloyd's daughter, Chelsey (24), said: "My father was unlawfully killed by a bullet to the head from a heavy-calibre machine-gun fired by US marines. The killing of my father would seem to amount to murder."
A spokesman for the attorney general said that he would await a letter from the coroner.
The Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had "never deliberately targeted non-combatants, including journalists".
Lloyd (50) was killed on the morning of March 22nd at a bridge on the road to Basra.
He and his team from the television news company ITN were working independently of the military, and he was injured in the crossfire between US and Iraqi forces. It was while he was being taken to hospital in a civilian vehicle that he received a fatal shot to the head from American guns. The coroner said he had "no doubt" that this was "an unlawful act".
The coroner reserved particular anger for the US soldiers who refused to attend the inquest to give their account. Instead, they gave statements to the court.
Mr Walker said: "I have no doubt Mr Lloyd was killed by a tracer bullet fired from an American gun . . . I have no doubt that the minibus presented no threat to the American forces. It was obvious that wounded persons were getting into the vehicle."
The US soldiers had not fired in self-defence, the coroner ruled. Had the killing taken place under English law, "it would have constituted an unlawful homicide", he added.
- (Guardian Service).