Sergeant says most detainees 'set free' in Afghanistan

The British campaign in Afghanistan was hampered by problems with the handling and prosecution of those it picked up on the battlefield - that much was clear to those of us who embedded with troops in Helmand province. But the scale of some of these issues has now been exposed by Colour Sergeant Trevor Coult who has made serious allegations to Newsnight.

Shockingly, he says that soldiers became so exasperated by seeing arrested insurgents returning quickly to their own communities that they became, "reluctant to detain" them, and, "in preference they would rather shoot them on the ground to save the taxpayer money and to save soldiers being killed".

Colour Sgt, was already a veteran of tours in Helmand and Iraq (where he was awarded the Military Cross) when he arrived at Camp Bastion in mid-2011 to do duty at the UK Temporary Holding Facility, a lock up usually housing a few dozen prisoners who had been taken on the battlefield. There were strict rules to prevent their mistreatment, particularly following the death of Baha Moussa in custody in Iraq in 2003.

Colour Sergeant Trevor Coult spoke to Newsnight

Detainees taken in Afghanistan were not meant to be held for more than 96 hours, though ministerial extensions of 28 days could be signed in special cases. After that, they were passed on to Afghan investigators and courts to deal with.

Colour Sgt Coult says that once sent on the local authorities, "the majority went free". In a statement on Friday's Newsnight, the Ministry of Defence argues "in recent years hundreds of detainees have been prosecuted and sentenced by the Afghans following transfer to them by British and other forces". The two statements are not inconsistent - since "hundreds" is a small proportion of approximately 4,000 Afghans detained during British operations in Afghanistan.

The MoD though does flatly reject statements made by the Belfast-born veteran to Newsnight - and a Sunday paper - that the killer of a British bomb disposal officer Captain Lisa Head was released without charge. "There is no truth to this allegation," it says in a statement. "The detainee was transferred to the Afghan authorities, convicted and given a jail sentence."

In his Newsnight interview the colour sergeant described walking detainees to the gates of Camp Bastion, returning their belongings to them and giving them 500 Afghanis (about £5/$7 at the time) to get home, noting the whole experience of serving at the facility left, "a dirty taste in my mouth".

Many of those who commanded operations in Helmand confirm that the question of what to do with captives they believed were enemy combatants was a serious issue throughout operations there. Those responsible found the many requirements - of not holding people for too long, ensuring they were not mistreated, and handing them over the Afghan authorities - often came into conflict.

Early in 2012, for example, British forces suspended the transfer of detainees for more than one year because of fears that the Afghan security service was torturing them. At that point there was often no choice but letting them free or handing them on to the Americans.

Last month the Court of Appeal ruled that the British Army had detained Serdar Mohammed - a suspect picked up in 2010 - for too long, keeping him (on rolling 28 day orders) for four months before handing him on to the Afghans. This judgement cited one from the Iraq conflict which stipulated that British forces should not hold captives for longer than 96 hours.

As a result of these judgements some senior officers have expressed concern that the whole basis for British military operations overseas has been undermined, since it could be impossible to interrogate a prisoner, and pass them on to authorities that would not mistreat them in the time stipulated by these judgements. In this sense, while the generals might dispute Colour Sgt Coult's claim that soldiers ended up shooting prisoners rather than take them, they share his frustration at the way the law has been applied to the battlefield.

Watch Mark Urban's report on Newsnight at 22:30 BST on Friday or afterwards on iPlayer(UK only).