Damned for madness and murder

His left leg shaking incessantly, his eyes wild, Danny Fitzsimons embarks on an uninterruptible diatribe - rapid-fire descriptions of alleged events in his life.

Every story is one of extreme violence and is recounted in boastful, graphic terms. Some of what he says is patently total fabrication, some of it appears genuine. It is impossible to tell where fantasy meets reality.

Fitzsimons - diminutive, shaven-headed, wearing tracksuit bottoms and flip flops - is in his prison in Baghdad and momentarily master of his environment - all 3sq m of it.

Behind him, an Iraqi soap opera is playing on a small television in the guard's office next to his cell as Fitzsimons' father and brother sit perched on the edge of a bed.

In his hand Eric Fitzsimons, 62, clutches a bag of sweets, a pair of novelty socks, and a ukulele - presents he has brought for his son on his first opportunity to see him for almost two years.

Danny Fitzsimons, 30, was this week convicted of murdering two fellow ArmorGroup employees - former Royal Marine Paul McGuigan and Australian Darren Hoare, both 37 - as well as attempting to murder an Iraqi, Arkhan Mahdi.

As he was led from the court Fitzsimons said that he was happy with the sentence. But asked whether he thought his trial had been fair, he said: "No."

His Iraqi lawyer, Tariq Harb, said: "This is a very good sentence. I saved him from the gallows.

"A year in prison in Iraq is nine months and this means that 20 years in prison will, in fact, be 15 years."

He planned to appeal for a reduced sentence. But the prosecution may also appeal for a stricter sentence or even the death penalty.

Fitzsimons' family said he faced a "horrendous" situation if transferred to Rusafa prison in Baghdad, where, as a former British soldier, he would be targeted by extremists including members of al-Qaeda.

"He told us: 'I will be a dead man if they put me in there.' We really are concerned that wherever he does end up he is safe," said his stepmother, Liz Fitzsimons. The family want him transferred to the United Kingdom.

Before the verdict, Fitzsimons was a mix of bravado and quieter moments.

"Every time I have been to court I have been treated like a dog. They think I am evil. But after giving my evidence they sat me in a big VIP bit. It is different now."

It was back in August 2009 that Fitzsimons flew into Baghdad to begin a job as a security contractor with ArmorGroup, owned by G4S, despite being repeatedly diagnosed with mental health problems including post-traumatic stress, facing trial for assault and having been sacked by two other security firms.

Within 36 hours, he had been arrested - accused of murdering the two Westerners in what has been described as "a whisky-fuelled brawl" and wounding the Iraqi guard, who was shot in the legs. All charges he denies, though he has asked the three-judge panel to consider a plea of manslaughter.

What happened that night remains a matter of angry debate. Fitzsimons claims he was acting in self defence, a statement strenuously denied by the relatives of the men who lost their lives.

What is not open for debate is that the case is an inflammatory one - the first Westerner to go on trial since the start of the war in Iraq.

It happened just months after security firms - who had poured into the country in the post-conflict confusion - lost immunity. For the Iraqis, it was an opportunity to clamp down on the guards, despised by many particularly since a group of American contractors from Blackwater opened fire on civilians in 2007, killing 14 and wounding 20.

G4S, a company with a £7 billion turnover in 2009 and competing for multimillion-dollar contracts in Iraq, swiftly sacked Fitzsimons but insisted it was observing its duty of care by providing him with meals and contributing towards his legal costs.

The Fitzsimons family, who are from Manchester, did not even know Danny had flown out to Baghdad, and the matter has been a desperate fight to try to get him brought back to face justice in Britain.

They remain adamant that he had such severe mental health problems that he should never have been employed by ArmorGroup.

But the family's campaign to see him brought back to the UK has been met with a brick wall from the British Government.

Eric Fitzsimons' requests to see his son in Baghdad were refused by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which insisted the situation in the Iraqi capital was too dangerous, and G4S said it feared offending the families of the dead men.

The multibillion-dollar giant eventually capitulated and agreed to contribute £9000 ($19,800) towards the trip. It fell to a more specialist security company operating in Baghdad - the Pilgrims Group - to take them under their wing and help them negotiate a city that, while it is considerably safer than at the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006 and 2007, remains a place of regular bombings and gunfire.

G4S said it had provided a "significant contribution" to Fitzsimons' legal expenses. A spokesman said the company's main reason for refusing any more help for the family was because it would distress the relatives of the dead men.

Eric Fitzsimons and Danny's brother Michael - both schoolteachers - travelled to Baghdad for a strained but poignant reunion at the Karadt Mariam police station within the International Zone where Fitzsimons has been held for 18 months as his trial was repeatedly adjourned. For a few moments when the family is first reunited, the prisoner simply stares back at his father, his face emotionless.

He looks at his brother, overwhelmed at seeing them for the first time since he was incarcerated, before murmuring the words "all right, bro" and enveloping both men in vice-like hugs. After his initial stunned pause, the former soldier, who lives his days on valium when he can get it, veers from maniacal ranting to affectionate conversations during their three-hour meeting.

One minute he is talking about "blades" and "claret all over the place", the next he is teasing his younger brother, 27, about how he used to sleep-walk as a child, or joking with his father about his George Best hairstyle during his professional footballing days.

But with little warning, the prisoner softens and begins reminiscing about his childhood with his father and brother, teasing each other with family jokes that have stood the test of time and the chasm that now exists between them.

"I am just overwhelmed," says Fitzsimons. "This is how I imagined it would be if - when - I came back to Britain. It has made my 18 months seeing them both. I don't like showing emotion. I have only cried once, recently when I spoke on the phone to my dad for the first time."

At times, he appears to express regret for the shootings, at others he goes into long tirades justifying his actions. Sometimes his version seems logical and lucid, at others simply fantasy created over months with little more to do than reflect on the horror of the night in question.

A document dating as far back as 2002 detailed how Fitzsimons had been "delighted and proud" to join the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, but remained haunted by what he had seen previously while serving with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, in Kosovo.

He talked of the memories of decomposing bodies and in particular the severed remains of an 11-year-old boy he had found in a fridge. It said he was suffering from hyper-vigilance, flashbacks, anxiety and constant fear of attack.

Upon discharge from the army in 2004, however, Fitzsimons took up security work in Iraq during which he witnessed a friend being blown apart by a roadside bomb.

Back at home, he was increasingly in trouble with the police and was often suicidal. Psychiatrists confirmed that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He covered every inch of his flat with scrawlings about death.

The judgment comes at a difficult time, with the Iraqis contemplating how much western presence they will be willing to allow after the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of this year.

"The trip has been emotional but really worthwhile," says Eric Fitzsimons. "Coming out here has only reinforced how severely mentally ill Danny is and how much he desperately needs to come back to Britain for psychiatric treatment. I accept and recognise what he is like but I will never give up on my son."

Yearning for a British jail

Danny Fitzsimons says he is doing it hard in his Baghdad prison.

"I don't sleep well at all. I get nightmares. It is a bit shit, depressing. I am worried all the time. I have good days and bad days. I used to be on anti-psychotic medicine but it ran out. Now I take Valium. I am a better person when I am on Valium. I have it all day."

He says he has been occupying himself in the cell by writing his memoirs: "Iraq was my dream job. I came out here for the buzz and because I was miserable in the UK.

"But I miss everything about Britain. I miss the rotten weather. I miss my friends. My dream is to be put in a British jail.

"I dream of home every day. I think about Blighty. It has been a lonely 18 months but you get used to it.

"The isolation is something I have got used to. Even when the cell has been full; I have never felt so alone surrounded by 20 people."

- INDEPENDENT