Film of dead airman was listed on eBay
Probably came from Coalition source, not insurgentsBy Lewis Page → More by this authorPublished Thursday 1st March 2007 10:31 GMT

A lawyer representing Ms Kellie Merritt, Flt Lt Pardoel's widow, said the Hercules wreckage remained unsecured for 60 hours despite being close to major US bases. According to the lawyer, Mr Bernard Collaery, this allowed insurgents to pick over the area and take propaganda film of Flt Lt Pardoel's corpse.

"There must be someone who can explain to my client why the crash site was not secured," he said.

But, in fact, it seems the site was secured reasonably quickly. Minstry of Defence reps said yesterday that "Coalition forces were at the scene of the crash within 30 minutes."

The MoD's own official report into the causes of the crash (full pdf available here) states that US Apache attack helicopters were above the wreckage 45 minutes after the final distress call was received from the doomed Hercules. This was 20 minutes from the time when ground controllers realised that the plane had crashed, rather than making a controlled landing as had at first been thought. There were Coalition boots on the ground five minutes after the Apaches' appearance.

By the time the MoD's specialist crash investigators reached the main crash site containing "all human remains" it had been secured by a force of 150 US Marines with substantial helicopter support. The area had already been thoroughly checked out by Search and Rescue teams, US crash investigators and RAF technical personnel. Though the MoD report does not say so specifically, it is clear that Coalition special forces were also present in significant numbers.

It is always possible that local villagers videoed Flt Lt Pardoel's body prior to the Apaches' appearance – the American pilots reported that 10 to 15 "locals" departed from the site as they arrived – but it seems much likelier that any video footage would have been taken by Coalition service personnel. The ghoulish eBay seller has reportedly been traced by police to an address in Scotland, which would support that theory.

It would appear that Ms Merritt's lawyer was unaware of the crash report's existence, though it has been widely analysed in the public domain. ®

-- Edited by anonymous at 07:31, 2007-03-01