SAS Soldier Being Investigated For Mercy Killings

A former SAS sergeant has said he is being investigated for murder after admitting he shot dead enemy fighters in what he called a “mercy killing”.

Sgt Colin Maclachlan, 42, from Edinburgh, wrote about how he had killed “two or three” mortally wounded enemy soldiers in Iraq in 2003 in a new book. Maclachlan could be jailed for the ‘mercy killing’ of the soldiers 13 years ago.

Sgt Maclachlan, who starred in the Channel 4 TV series Who Dares Wins, was told of the police inquiry in an email from MoD officials last week.

Sgt Maclachlan said the killings took place on the Syrian border in March 2003, where an SAS squad fired rockets at enemy units. After the attack Mr Maclachlan discovered two Iraqi soldiers who had been disembowelled and another that had lost three limbs.

Sgt Maclachlan said that the injured soldiers were “pleading for us to do it”.

He wrote: “Special Forces operatives quickly put them out of their misery, rather than leaving them to die slowly and in agony.”

He added: “Our motives were entirely humane. I’ll happily go to court, I’ll happily go to jail, if you think I’ve done wrong. But people should put themselves in my position first. Walk around in my boots, then judge me.”

Killing mortally wounded soldiers is against British military law and the Geneva Convention.

Although the MoD would not comment on Mr Maclachlan’s accusations, a spokeswoman said: “Credible allegations of criminal behaviour will always be investigated properly.”