LINKS between MI6 and the soldier at the centre of the Diana and Dodi murder plot allegations emerged yesterday.
The SAS sniper,
known as Soldier N, is being advised by a lawyer who is a serving member
of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. The solicitor, an ex-Army
officer, joined the world of espionage as a legal adviser based at MI6
headquarters in London.
A further potential MI6
connection was disclosed during the Army probe which led to the
court-martial of Soldier N and fellow SAS sniper Danny Nightingale for
illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
Investigators
were told two Glock pistols found at the house they shared in Hereford
were gifts from Iraqi special forces who had completed training courses
given by the SAS.
It has now been alleged that among the Iraqis were MI6 agents recruited to spy for Britain.
Soldier N was presented with his Glock by the Iraqis in 2003. Nightingale told investigators he was given his gun in 2007.
Official records show Soldier N’s weapon was purchased in October 2003 and Nightingale’s in December of the same year.
It
is one of the mysterious aspects of the case that two pistols bought in
2003 should turn up in the same house in Hereford in the possession of
soldiers who served in Iraq four years apart.
The two weapons
proved to be the downfall of Soldier N and Danny Nightingale when they
were discovered along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition at their
semi-detached home near SAS headquarters in September 2011. West Mercia
Police raided the house following allegations that Soldier N’s wife was
the victim of domestic abuse.
Nightingale
initially pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of firearms and
ammunition and was jailed for 18 months by a military court last year.
His conviction was quashed after a public outcry. In July, he was found
guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to two years detention suspended
for 12 months.
Soldier N admitted the charges
and was given two years detention. The former sergeant has since been
released and discharged from the Army after a career spanning 20 years.
Allegations that the SAS were involved in Diana and Dodi’s deaths –
contained in a letter written by Soldier N’s mother-in-law – became
public after Nightingale’s trial. She told how Soldier N had told her
daughter it was the SAS “who arranged Princess Diana’s death and that
has been covered up”.
When extracts of the
letter were published, Soldier N was described as a “loose cannon” and
claims of SAS involvement in the deaths of Diana and Dodi were dismissed
as “rubbish”.
Dodi’s family were dismayed by
the reaction as Soldier N had been regarded as a “witness of truth” when
he gave evidence for the Crown at Nightingale’s trial.
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