Father of Gwynedd soldier 'angry' over Chilcot report date

L/Cpl Keys was among six British military policemen killed in Iraq in 2003

The father of a Gwynedd soldier killed in Iraq said he is "bitterly disappointed and angry" that the Chilcot Inquiry report will not be published this year.

Sir John Chilcot announced on Thursday his report will be published in June or July 2016.

Reg Keys said there was just a "crumb of comfort" that a date has been given.

Mr Keys' son L/Cpl Thomas Richard Keys, 20, of Llanuwchllyn, near Bala, died in 2003.

Closure

"I see no reason whatsoever why this report could not have been brought out earlier this summer," Mr Keys said.

"I am bitterly disappointed with this delay."

Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "immensely frustrated" at how long Sir Chilcot's inquiry, which began in 2009, was taking.

Asked why he thought it has taken so long, Mr Keys said: "I just think Sir John didn't realise how much and how important this report is to the families of the fallen."

Iraqi people, he added, also wanted to know "why their loved ones died".

Mr Keys said publication of the report would bring closure, adding: "It has to. It has gone on long enough.

"We will have to accept the findings of this because we will never understand the whole truth of what went on in Iraq behind closed doors of top levels."