Danny Fitzsimons jailed over Iraq gun deaths

(REUTERS)

The fiancee of a British security worker shot dead in Iraq by a colleague said today the "true victim" of the crime was the daughter he never met.

Danny Fitzsimons will serve at least 20 years for killing Scot Paul McGuigan and Australian Darren Hoare in August 2009.

Fitzsimons, 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, worked with the two victims for private security group ArmourGroup.

In a statement, Mr McGuigan's fiancee Nicci Prestage, 37, said: "I have found some solace in the fact that Fitzsimons has been convicted of murder and not manslaughter by self defence. There was no evidence to support a fight between Paul, Darren and Fitzsimons and the judge has recognised that."

Ms Prestage, who lives in Tameside, near Manchester, said she wanted to remind everyone her daughter Elsie-mai, born prematurely just weeks after her father's death, is the "true victim of Fitzsimons's actions".

Mr McGuigan, 37, a former Royal Marine originally from Peebles in the Scottish Borders, was gunned down alongside Mr Hoare in Iraq's Green Zone.

Mr McGuigan was shot twice in the chest and through the mouth, while Mr Hoare was shot through the temple at close range.

Fitzsimons claimed he was acting in self-defence when he shot his colleagues, asking the judges in Iraq to consider a plea agreement which would convict him on lesser manslaughter charges.

His family said Fitzsimons is threatening to take his own life and is frightened of being sent to Baghdad's Rusafa prison because he is a former British Army paratrooper.

His step-mother Liz Fitzsimons said she was "euphoric" that he had avoided the death penalty, but still had "massive concerns".

"Danny, for the last few weeks, has been constantly saying he cannot end up in Rusafa jail, which is the main jail out there.

"He said it's full of al Qaida, Taliban, Mujahideen, all of these people.

"He said 'I will be a target' and he said 'I just won't last'. He said 'I will be a dead man if they put me in there'.

"We really are concerned that wherever he does end up he is safe.

"He has also said that if they talk about putting him in Rusafa jail he will take his own life first."

She said her step-son should not have been allowed to go to Iraq because of his mental health. She said Fitzsimons was discharged from the military after suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

His family did not know that he had gone to Iraq to work for the private security firm.

"We feel we should have got treatment and help for him, but we also feel the Ministry of Defence have let him down and continue to let down an awful lot of these young soldiers who come out with PTSD and aren't offered any help for it," Mrs Fitzsimons said.

Fitzsimons was the first Westerner to stand trial in Iraq since a 2009 US-Iraqi security agreement lifted immunity for foreigners.

A spokesman for legal charity Reprieve said there was still a chance Fitzsimons will face the death penalty, because both the prosecution and defence have 30 days to decide to launch an appeal against the sentence.

The spokesman added that the security group had been negligent because it carried out only minimal checks that failed to spot Fitzsimons's instability.

He joined the Royal Fusiliers at the age of 16 and later served in 2 Para.

A spokesman for G4S, which owns ArmourGroup, said it was a "tragic case".

He said: "Our thoughts remain with the families of Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare, who were valued and highly respected employees of the company and who continue to be sadly missed by their families, colleagues and friends alike.

"We have no comment to make regarding the trial process or the content of the trial itself."