Calls to free Iraq hostages; Fears for captives as bodies returned

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 22, 2009

GORDON Brown was demanding the immediate release of three British hostages in Iraq today as tributes were paid to the two dead captives.

Security officers Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst, who were confirmed dead yesterday, were among a group of five men taken hostage in Baghdad in 2007.

But the fate of the three others - IT consultant Peter Moore, from Lincoln, and two other guards named only as Alan, from Scotland, and Alec, from South Wales - is still unknown.

The Prime Minister sent his condolences to Mr Creswell's and Mr Swindlehurst's families who he said had received "the worst possible news after two years of very anxious waiting." Sources said the tests on the remains showed they had not been mutilated - but warned it could take British scientists several days to discover exactly how they died.

Speaking at Downing Street, Mr Brown called for the three other hostages to be released immediately and said there was "no justification" for hostage-taking..

Mr Brown said he had contacted the Iraqi prime minister and was working to secure the men's release "as soon as possible." The remains of Mr Creswell, originally from Glasgow, and Mr Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, were handed over to authorities in Baghdad late on Friday.

Amid claims the handover could have been a conciliatory gesture, a spokesman for Garda- World, the Canadian security company which employed the pair, insisted the company was doing everything in its powers to ensure the remaining three captives were released.

After Foreign Secretary David Miliband said everyone involved in efforts to release the men had "failed", the families of the other hostages spoke of the heartache.

Mr Moore's father, Graeme, described the wait for confirmation as "torture" but said his thoughts were now with the family members of Mr Creswell and Mr Swindlehurst.

The 59-year-old delivery driver, from Leicestershire, added: "Today's information brings very mixed feelings. Obviously, I hope my son is alive but I feel desperate for the other families.

"What they are going through is unimaginable.''