Murder accused told of torment of Iraq war in Facebook entry

A British security contractor accused of killing two colleagues in a drunken row had written publicly about the mental anguish of the job.

Danny Fitzsimons was yesterday in Iraqi custody facing a premeditated murder charge and possible death penalty if found guilty as friends paid tribute to the two dead men, Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare.

Interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf said the 29-year-old, who had worked in private security since leaving the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, four years ago, had been drinking with his colleagues when a "squabble" erupted.

Fitzsimons was said to have pulled out a Beretta pistol and fatally wounded McGuigan and Hoare, both 37, as they attempted to overpower him, before injuring an Iraqi colleague, Arkhan Mahdi, in the leg.

Last year on the Facebook site Fitzsimons spoke of the torment of losing friends: "Stay safe and to those who will return to fight a different battle ... A war inside your head ... A mental fight which will be tougher to win than any fight you've ever been in before."

Last night the Foreign Office said that consular officials had visited him in custody as Iraqi police investigated the shooting. The former soldier could become the first Westerner to face an Iraqi trial on murder charges since an agreement giving foreign workers immunity was lifted this year.

Last night Andy Bearpark, of the British Association of Private Security Companies, said in the past couple of years the industry had come to recognise the need to deal with combat stress among its employees and put in place new practices to tackle the problem.

- INDEPENDENT