'Unlawful killing' verdict for security contractor shot in Iraq

A security contractor who was shot by his colleague in Iraq was "unlawfully killed", an inquest today declared.

Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare, another security guard, were shot in 2009.

Danny Fitzsimons, 31, was found guilty of the two murders in 2011. He was sentenced to 20 years in an Iraqi prison.

Paul McGuigan's mother, Corinne Boyd-Russell, who lives in Innerleithen, says she believes the company who employed the men, G4S, is equally culpable.

She says G4S should never have cleared Fitzsimons to work in Iraq.

The inquest has heard he was discharged from the army for misconduct and drugs, and was already showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder.

He faked his medical records and concealed his criminal history, and returned to Iraq to work for G4S in 2009.

Emails sent to G4S warned the company that he was abusing steroids, cocaine and cannabis.

One read: "I am alarmed that he will shortly be allowed to handle a weapon... I am speaking out because I feel that people should not be put at risk."

Another email says: "I have told you that he remains a threat, and you have done nothing."

Within hours of arriving in Iraq, Fitzsimons was drunk, and he opened fire after a fight, killing Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare.

G4S has release the following statement: