“I felt sick to the stomach at those pictures,” said Tilford

LONDON, May 31 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Iraqi PoWs torture snaps scandal revealed Friday, May 30, has become fully-blown now as the young lady who developed the negative into 7in x 5in prints broke her silence and voiced horror at what she saw, a best-selling British tabloid said Saturday, May 31.

Kelly Tilford, 22, called police after developing a film in her photo shop, brought to her by a British soldier, Gary Bartlam, 18, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who is currently being questioned by the Army’s top criminal investigator amid fears the scandal is the tip of an iceberg, The Sun reported in an exclusive interview with Tilford.

“I felt sick to the stomach at those pictures,” Tilford told the British daily.

The shocking pictures — revealed by The Sun Friday — showed male Iraqis apparently forced into sexual positions by their British captors.

In another a prisoner was suspended by rope from a fork-lift truck driven by a laughing Brit.

Disgusted Tilford, who has children aged two and eight months, said Bartlam called at the Max Spielmann photo shop where she works in Tamworth, Staffs, on Wednesday, May 28.

The young soldier, who was home on leave after the war, left a roll of film to be developed into 7in x 5in prints within an hour.

“I went to the mini-lab. As you put the film through, you are meant to check the pictures on a screen to ensure they are printed properly.

“But when I started cutting the negatives on this batch, I looked at one and noticed immediately that it seemed a bit strange. I took a closer look. At first appearance, it had seemed like soldiers having a laugh.

“Then I realized it was a half-naked Iraqi being hauled high into the air by a forklift truck while bound hand and foot. I saw the look on his face. He was petrified. I will never forget that terrible stare,” she recalled.

“Then I saw some sexual pictures….(one of the sots) showed two Iraqis lying naked on the ground as if they had just been thrown there. There didn’t seem anything wrong with the other photos. They were just pictures of Iraqi soldiers surrendering — the sort of thing you saw on the TV during the war.”

Raising The Alarm

“We know it’s very serious. But he’s a young lad,” said Margaret

The mother-of-two said she immediately realized something terribly wrong had happened and something had to be done about it.

“I started shaking and was panicking in case the guy came back before I could raise the alarm,” she added.

“I was worried and waited for my colleague to come back from lunch. She just took one look and said, ‘we have got to call the police’.

“We phoned our area manager to tell him what we were doing. The lad (Bartlam) was due back any minute to collect his photos, so we agreed to tell him they were not ready because there was a problem with the machine,” Tilford continued.

“He came back before the police arrived. We told him the machine was not working and it would be another half an hour. As I said that he blushed — as if he knew something was wrong. He stayed in the shop 15 to 20 minutes and I could not bring myself to look at him.

“I eventually said, ‘Look, we have got to get a technician out. If you want to call back’. I told him to leave his telephone number so we could call when the film was ready.

“He agreed and just as he was leaving, a police sergeant arrived…Fortunately it was a detective in plain clothes, so the soldier was none the wiser.

“After the detective saw them, he contacted his office and we rang the soldier to say the film was ready for collection.

“When he came into the shop, the sergeant was waiting for him and called out his name. The lad said ‘Yeah’ and confessed to the copper that the pictures were his.

“The officer showed him his badge and took him through to the back of the shop. He went straight away. He didn’t struggle or anything.

“About half an hour later an unmarked blue car pulled up outside and they took him away. The police then came back later to take a statement from me about what I saw,” Tilford said.

“The lad was in some of the pictures, but not all of them,” she added.

“I don’t know which photos he had taken and which had been taken of him, because some were such close-ups you could not see the faces of those involved.”

No Regrets 

Kelly added: “I don’t feel guilty about calling in the police. I know people who have been fighting in Iraq. I am as proud as anybody of what our forces did out there — but there are rules.

“I would not want any of my friends to be treated like those Iraqis on the photographs. We are a great nation. But we would lose our self-respect and much more besides if we allowed ourselves and our troops to stoop this low.”

The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers served in Iraq with the 7th Armored Brigade, the legendary Desert Rats of World War II fame. The regiment is based in Celle, Germany.

Major General Ken Perkins, The Sun’s military adviser, commented: “This involves a breakdown in discipline going far beyond one or two soldiers.

“The Army has no place for NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and officers who condone such behaviour, or are too weak to prevent it,” he said.

The controversy is the latest to hit British troops over their behavior in the Iraq war.

Lt Col Tim Collins, former CO of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment, is being investigated over accusations he mistreated Iraqi civilians and PoWs.

‘Naive’

However, Bartham’s mother told The Sun that her son was naive, but also admitted he made “one big mistake”.

Margaret said “I feel sorry for our lad because he’s gone through a lot. We know it’s very serious. But he’s a young lad.

“He made one big mistake, but how many other soldiers are like him who go in naive and find themselves in the same position?”

The mother, who owns a corner shop with Gary’s dad Paul in Dordon, Warwicks, said: “We haven’t even spoken to our son yet.

“He took photographs, they were developed and the developers informed whoever and that’s all we know.

“We were expecting him back home on Wednesday afternoon but at two o’clock there was no sign of him….Then we found out they had picked Gary up from the developers,” she added.

“We didn’t even see the film, nor did Gary — but obviously he knows what’s on it because he took the photos…But he doesn’t belong to us now — we knew that when he joined the Army…He’s theirs now. I just want to protect my son.”