Taliban tortured lost soldier

A young British soldier was executed by the Taliban in Afghanistan after leaving his checkpoint to search for missing kit.

After being captured, Highlander Scott McLaren, 20, was tortured, shot five times in the head with an automatic rifle and then his body interfered with.

The soldier's semi-clad corpse was found several hours later by British forces in a nearby river, the inquest in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, heard yesterday.

Highlander McLaren, of the 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, had left his base in the middle of the night to go to find a pair of night-vision goggles. A comrade had left the piece of equipment at a vehicle checkpoint and Highlander McLaren was the last to see them. But Highlander McLaren headed in a different direction, for a reason unknown. The coroner David Ridley recording a verdict of unlawful killing.