News

British Soldiers unlawfully shot dead by rogue Afghan policeman
23 May 2011

Paul Kilcoyne was instructed by Roythornes, Solicitors to act on behalf of the families of Sgt Telford and Guardsman Major following their murder by an Afghan Policeman on 3rd November 2009 at Check point Blue 25 in Nadi-e-Ali, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  Five British soldiers were killed in the attack.  The Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

During the four day Inquest it was established that the rogue policeman, known as Gulbuddin, had been behaving erratically.  In the two weeks leading up to this tragedy he had physically and sexually assaulted a British soldier at the base and had been witnessed by another on Sentry Duty armed with an AK47 rifle and "unable to walk straight" due to the influence of drugs.  Although these concerns were raised up the Command chain Gulbuddin was not removed from his post.

It was also established at the Inquest that following the attack the MOD brought in :

• Mandatory drug screening for Afghan police recruits
• Security and bio-metric testing
• Summary removal powers
• Setting up a Police Training college