Baha Mousa doc loses licence

Derek Keilloh, 38, of North Yorkshire, blinked back tears today as a panel of medical professionals, lay men and jurists stripped him of his licence, citing his "repeated dishonesty" following the death of prisoner Baha Mousa on a Basra base in 2003.

Mr Keilloh, now a family GP in Northallerton, had done "everything possible" to save Mr Mousa's life when told he had "fallen and collapsed," the Medical Professionals Tribunal Service said.

Yet the recently arrived Mr Keilloh ignored more than 90 separate injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose, telling army investigators, court martials and a public inquiry he had not been aware of any injuries other than dried blood around Mr Mousa's nose.

Mr Keilloh privately told his fellow soldiers not to beat any other prisoners but failed in his duty as a doctor to blow the whistle on what he had seen - a "fundamental tenet" of the medical profession.

The panel's chairman Dr Brian Alderman told Mr Keilloh that striking his name from the register was "the only appropriate sanction in this case."

He said: "It is considered that this action is the only way proper standards of conduct and behaviour may be upheld and trust in the profession as a whole may be restored."

Mr Keilloh - who said today he was "disappointed" by the decision - may technically reapply after five years.

But speaking after the hearing, Mr Mousa's father Colonel Daoud Mousa said he hoped Mr Keilloh would be "banned for life."

He said: "He did not have humanity in his heart when he was supposed to be caring for my son.

"He did not do his job properly," he said.

Hotel receptionist and father of two Mr Mousa was kidnapped at gunpoint by British soldiers in September 2003, wrongly suspected of involvement in the insurgency.

Within 36 hours he was dead, an inquiry earlier this year finding he was killed by heat, exhaustion, unauthorised "stress positions" and repeated beatings at the hands of his captors in the First Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

Yet despite naming 19 soldiers in the assault of Mr Mousa and others, the report cleared the regiment of systematic torture and mistreatment.

Seven soldiers from the unit were tried over Mr Mousa's death, including commanding officer Colonel Jorge Mendonca.

Just one - Corporal Donald Payne - was convicted of inhumane treatment, the first ever conviction of a British soldier for a war crime.

He was sentenced to one year in jail.