Where is Brian Wood now?
FORMER Colour Sergeant Brian Wood has been through more than his fair share of ordeals – on and off the battlefield.
After being honoured for his service in 2004, Brian went through hell when he was falsely accused of committing war crimes. His story is being retold in new BBC drama Danny Boy.
Who is Brian Wood?
Brian Wood is a solider falsely accused of murder after risking his life in Iraq.
At the age of 23, he served in one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war, the Battle of Danny Boy in 2004.
The battle saw Brian and members of the Prince of Wales Regiment attempt to rescue a patrol of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who had been ambushed by around 100 Iraqi insurgents.
No British troops died in the battle, but 28 enemy fighters were killed and in recognition of his efforts, Brian was awarded the Military Cross.
But on his return home, Brian struggled to re-integrate into family life and suffered from PTSD.
What was Brian Wood accused of?
In 2009, five years after returning from war, Brian was summoned to give evidence to the Al-Sweady Inquiry which accused the soldiers in the Prince of Wales Regiment of killing and abusing civilians.
The team of human rights lawyers heading up the inquiry was led by Phil Shiner.
Shiner’s firm, Public Interest Lawyers, claimed Brian’s regiment captured 20 men and executed most of them — as well as mistreating those they allowed to live.
The claims were so extreme that Brian's eldest son Bailey was bullied and reduced to tears at school over the claims that his dad murdered innocent children in Iraq.
But ultimately a report concluded that the allegations of torture and murder were "wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility".
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer said: “For me this was one of the greatest injustices inside or outside the military."
Where is Brian Wood now?
Brian is now a public speaker, across the United Kingdom and Europe.
He speaks out about putting an end to 'witch-hunts' of soldiers.
In 2020, he backed a new law to end these witch-hunts.
In the same year, he led a group of veterans suing the MoD over the phoney war crimes claims.
He said at the time: “False accusations have ruined people’s lives.
“The system is broken and it needs to be fixed.”
In 2019, Brian released his memoir Double Crossed: A Code of Honour, A Complete Betrayal, which documents his life in the army and his experience of being interrogated over crimes he did not commit.
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