This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/6167735.stm

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Soldiers on gun-smuggling charges Soldiers jailed over gun charges
(about 17 hours later)
Four soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, are due before a military court accused of smuggling guns out of Iraq. Three soldiers have been jailed and thrown out of the Army after admitting charges connected to a plot to sell guns smuggled out of Iraq.
The prosecution allege L/Cpls Ross Phillips, Ben Whitfield, Shaun Campbell and Pte Shane Pleasant traded the arms for drugs and cash. L/Cpl Ross Phillips, 22, and Pte Shane Pleasant, 26, were both sent to prison for over five years after admitting possessing a prohibited pistol.
The men are will appear before military judges at Catterick Garrision in North Yorkshire on Monday. L/Cpl Ben Whitfield, 24, was jailed for two years and eight months for trying to pervert the course of justice.
Five soldiers are due in court next year in connection with the charges. The soldiers were from the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment.
The charges follow a criminal inquiry by the Royal Military Police. They admitted their role in the gun smuggling plot at a court martial hearing at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.
The case was then passed to the Army Prosecuting Authority (APA), which has decided to prosecute. A fourth defendant, Pte Robert Marlow, 22, was ordered to serve six months in an Army detention centre after admitting trying to pervert the course of justice.
The allegations relate to small arms being brought from Iraq for sale in the UK by infantry soldiers serving in July 2005, an MoD spokesman said. 'Tidy profit'
Sentencing, Judge Advocate General Colin Burn said the offences were "very serious".
"You four to a greater or lesser degree were at the end of a chain which started with smuggling lethal weapons out of Iraq for profit."
The court martial heard how two non-commissioned officers (NCOs) devised a plot to buy firearms on the black market in Iraq.
Col Nigel Jones, prosecuting, said L/Cpls Michael White and Darren Creswick - who face proceedings next year - bought freely-available guns in Iraq and sold them to colleagues at the battalion base in Germany.
Col Jones said: "The motive for undertaking this business arrangement was simple - money.
"They realised that pistols and other small arms could be bought very easily in Iraq. Availability in Germany was not so easy, therefore they could make a tidy profit."
Gun hidden
He said the two NCOs hatched their plan while on a tour of duty with what was then the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (now the 3rd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment) between October 2004 and May 2005.
Col Jones said L/Cpls Phillips bought an imitation handgun, converted to fire live ammunition, from White for 600 euros (£400).
Col Jones said Phillips told Army investigators he bought the gun while having personal problems because another soldier was having an affair with his fiancee while on leave from Iraq.
But he would not tell the military police about what he planned to do with the weapon.
When he was arrested, his roommate at the barracks, Whitfield, "panicked" and hid the gun, which was in their shared room.
'War souvenir'
He gave the weapon to Marlow, who hid it in the married quarters where he lived at the base and where the gun was later found.
Pleasant admitted buying a different imitation pistol from White, which had also been converted to fire live rounds.
The weapon was not found until the soldier showed investigators where it was, saying he wanted the gun as a war souvenir.
Another soldier, L/Cpl Shaun Campbell, was due to appear on Monday but will now be dealt with next year.