Bodies of hostages flown back to UK
Updated on 26 June 2009
The bodies of Iraq hostages Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell have been flown home from Baghdad by the RAF.
The men's relatives were present when the flight from Baghdad arrived at RAF Lyneham at 5.55am.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell were repatriated earlier today.
"An RAF flight from Baghdad arrived at RAF Lyneham at 05.55am. Family members were present as the flight arrived. Foreign Office staff accompanied them.
"The families have asked for privacy. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
"Foreign Office staff remain in close contact with all the families. We continue to do everything we can for the release of the other hostages."
The Oxfordshire Coroner has been informed and will open and adjourn inquests into the deaths before releasing the men's bodies to their families so their funerals can be held, the spokesman added.
Mr Creswell, originally from Glasgow, and Mr Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, were among a group of five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad on May 29, 2007.
A group of 40 armed men wearing police uniforms seized the hostages at the Iraqi Finance Ministry in the capital.
IT consultant Peter Moore, from Lincoln, and two guards identified only as Alan from Scotland and Alec from South Wales, are still being held by their captors.
In recent weeks, hopes had risen that the men could soon be freed after the release of a senior Iraqi insurgent at the beginning of the month.
But that hope was dashed when the bodies of Mr Creswell and Mr Swindlehurst were handed over to authorities late last Friday.
Responsibility for the kidnapping was at first pinned on Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
It was thought to be a retaliatory attack for the killing by British forces of the militia's commander in Basra, southern Iraq, a week earlier.
But al-Sadr's followers denied responsibility and suspicion fell on splinter groups which the US believes are controlled by Iran.
The release of leading Shiite insurgent Laith al-Khazali by US forces on June 6 had sparked fresh hopes the Britons could be freed.
Al-Khazali is a senior member of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, which has been linked to the kidnapping.
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