View source for Donald Payne (British Army soldier)

{{Short description|British soldier convicted of war crime}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
Corporal '''Donald Payne''' (born 9 September 1970)<ref name="070327wa1">{{cite web | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldlwa/070327wa1.pdf | title=Parliamentary publication (Hearing Transcript) | work=publications.parliament.uk | date=30 April 2007 | accessdate=2009-07-15 }}</ref> is a [[War crime|war criminal]] and former soldier of the [[Queen's Lancashire Regiment]] and later the [[Duke of Lancaster's Regiment]] of the [[British Army]] who became the first member of the [[British armed forces]] to be convicted of a [[war crime]] under the provisions of the [[International Criminal Court Act 2001]] when he pleaded guilty on 19 September 2006 to a charge of inhumane treatment.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldlwa/50719ws1.pdf Charge sheet for trial by court-marshal. The Queen v. Donald Payne ...], [https://publications.parliament.uk/ www.publications.parliament.uk], July 2005</ref><ref name="admitscrime">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5360432.stm | title=British soldier admits war crime | work=BBC News | date=19 September 2006 | accessdate=2006-09-23 }}</ref> He was jailed for one year and dismissed from the Army.<ref name="sentence">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6609237.stm | title=UK soldier jailed over Iraq abuse |work=BBC News | date=30 April 2007 | accessdate=2007-04-30 }}</ref>
==Service career==
Donald Payne joined the British Army on 5 June 1988, enlisting with the [[Queen's Lancashire Regiment]], which subsequently amalgamated into the [[Duke of Lancaster's Regiment|1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment]]. He was promoted to the substantive rank of [[Corporal#United Kingdom|Corporal]] on 30 June 2000. As an [[Non-commissioned officer#United Kingdom|NCO]] he worked as a Provost Corporal with the [[Regimental Provost]] in [[Catterick garrison|Catterick Garrison]]. He also served in Iraq, South [[County Armagh|Armagh]], and the [[Former Yugoslavia]]<ref name="070327wa1"/>
He had earned the following decorations/awards: [[General Service Medal (1962)|General Service Medal]] with Northern Ireland clasp, [[NATO Medal]] with Former Yugoslavia clasp, Accumulated Campaign Service Medal, The Queen's Jubilee Medal and the [[Iraq Medal (United Kingdom)|Iraq Medal]]<ref name="070327wa1"/> His service career ended on 30 April 2007 when he was reduced to the ranks and dismissed from Her Majesty's armed forces for his conduct in Iraq.{{cn|date=December 2015}}
==War crimes==
On 14 September 2003, a number of [[Iraq]]is were detained by British forces in raids on hotels in [[Basra]].  The [[detainee]]s were taken to a three-room building in Basra, where they were questioned for 36 hours.  Among the detainees was [[Baha Mousa]], a 26-year-old employee of the Haitham Hotel in Basra, who died as a result of the [[interrogation]].  The subsequent post-mortem found 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose.<ref name="admitscrime" /> Detainees claimed that the British soldiers had held kicking competitions, competing to see who could kick the prisoners the furthest.<ref name="Q&ABahaMousainquiry" /> Prisoners were also made to assume [[stress positions]] and were beaten and kicked if they failed to do so.<ref name="Warcrimescourtmartial">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6360261.stm | title=UK soldiers cleared of Iraq abuse | work=BBC News | date=14 February 2007 | accessdate=2009-07-13 }}</ref>
==Court martial==
On 19 July 2005, [[attorney general|Attorney General]] [[Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith|Lord Goldsmith]] announced that Payne was being charged with [[manslaughter]], [[perverting the course of justice]] and inhumane treatment of persons under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. On the same day, another ten soldiers were also charged with similar crimes, six relating to the death of Mousa and four relating to the death of another Iraqi, Ahmed Jabber Kareem Ali, on 8 May 2003.<ref name="chargedwithcrime">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4698251.stm | title=UK soldiers face war crimes trial | work=BBC News | date=20 July 2005 | accessdate=2006-09-23 }}</ref>
The [[Court-martial#Courts-martial in the United Kingdom|Court Martial]] was held in [[Bulford Camp]], Wiltshire, after an investigation by the [[Royal Military Police]]. It convened in the autumn of 2006, and concluded six months later in April 2007, being the most expensive Court Martial in modern British military history<ref name="Q&ABahaMousainquiry">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8143982.stm | title=Q&A: Baha Mousa inquiry | work=BBC News | date=13 July 2009 | accessdate=2009-07-13 }}</ref>
During the court martial, Corporal Payne admitted he "enjoyed" hearing Iraqis call out during torture, describing their cries of pain as "the choir".<ref name="sentence" /> He was cleared of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.  Six other soldiers were cleared of any charges.<ref name="sentence" />
After earlier pleading guilty to the offence of inhuman treatment of persons protected under the Geneva Conventions, Corporal Donald Payne was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, reduced to the ranks, and dismissed from Her Majesty's Armed Forces, on 30 April 2007.<ref name="UKsoldierjailedoverIraqabuse">{{cite web | url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/uk+soldier+jailed+over+iraq+abuse/485457 | title=UK soldier jailed over Iraq abuse | publisher=Channel 4| date=30 April 2007 | accessdate=2007-04-30 }}</ref><ref name="dannattmodcomment">{{cite web | url=http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/defencenews/defencepolicyandbusiness/generaldannattspeaksaftercloseofcplpaynecourtmartial.htm | title=Defence Policy and Business news article | work=Ministry of Defence | date=30 April 2007 | accessdate=2009-07-13 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715190837/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/GeneralDannattSpeaksAfterCloseOfCplPayneCourtMartial.htm | archivedate=15 July 2009}}</ref> On all other charges, Cpl Payne, and the other defendants, were acquitted when the presiding judge, [[Stuart McKinnon|Mr Justice McKinnon]], ruled that there was no evidence against them.
Mr Justice McKinnon suggested that he believed there had been some level of covering-up with relation to the case, when he stated during the proceedings that "None of those soldiers has been charged with any offence, simply because there is no evidence against them as a result of a more or less obvious closing of ranks."<ref name="cmcloserankscomment">{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-victims-of-war-93-injuries-one-killing-no-justice-440756.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227073748/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-victims-of-war-93-injuries-one-killing-no-justice-440756.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=27 December 2009 | title=The victims of war: 93 injuries, one killing, no justice | work=The Independent | date=18 March 2007 | accessdate=2009-07-14 | location=London | first=Raymond | last=Whitaker}}</ref>
==Video of Payne abusing prisoners==
On 13 July 2009, a video reportedly showing Cpl Payne abusing Iraqi prisoners was released as part of the evidence being presented to the public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa. The video reportedly shows Cpl Payne forcing hooded and bound prisoners into stress positions, pushing and shoving prisoners, and aggressively shouting obscenities at them whilst they clearly vocalise their distress.<ref name="paynevidstory">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/13/baha-mousa-inquiry-opens | title=Video of British soldier shouting abuse at Iraqis shown at Baha Mousa inquiry | work=The Guardian| date=13 July 2009 | accessdate=2009-07-13 | location=London | first=Matthew | last=Weaver}}</ref>
Procedures shown in the video were banned from use by British military personnel on 2 March 1972, by [[Edward Heath]], the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] at the time, after [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] internees in [[Northern Ireland]] were subjected to [[five techniques|similar techniques]]. The ban was announced the day the [[five techniques#Parker Report|Parker Report]] was published and found them to be illegal under English law. In 1978 in the [[European Court of Human Rights]] in "[[Ireland v. the United Kingdom]]" (Case No. 5310/71) found the techniques used in Northern Ireland "amounted to [[inhuman or degrading treatment|inhuman and degrading treatment]]".<ref name="Ireland.v.UK-102">[http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=695383&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 Ireland v. the United Kingdom] paragraph 167</ref><ref>Richard Norton-Taylor, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/13/video-inquiry-iraqi-prisoners-mousa 'Get up you ape' – video reveals abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldier] guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 July 2009</ref><ref name="heathhoodban">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4301952.stm | title=Heath quizzed over IRA treatment | work=BBC News | date=2 October 2005 | accessdate=2009-07-13 }}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/video/2009/jul/13/baha-mousa-inquiry Video of Donald Payne Abusing Iraqi Prisoners]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Donald}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Duke of Lancaster's Regiment soldiers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Iraq War]]
[[Category:British Army personnel who were court-martialled]]
[[Category:British people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Queen's Lancashire Regiment soldiers]]
[[Category:Torture in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the British military]]
[[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]