Anis Abid Sardar trial: Londoner's fingerprints were on IEDs linked to Baghdad bombing which killed US soldier

 
Explosion: Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson was killed when an IED blast hit his armoured vehicle in September 2007 (Picture: PA)
Tom Marshall29 April 2015
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A London man accused of making a bomb that killed a US soldier in Iraq has admitted his fingerprints were on IEDs linked to the case.

Anis Abid Sardar, 38, of Wembley, north-west London, is accused of making bombs in Syria which were planted on the road west out of Baghdad in 2007.

One of them is said to have killed Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson, of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, when it hit the armoured vehicle the 34-year-old was travelling in on September 27, 2007.

During the opening of Sardar's trial at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday, the jury heard that his prints were found on two of four devices linked to the case, but that he denied any involvement in bomb-making.

But his lawyer, Henry Blaxland QC, told them today: "Can I just make it clear, Mr Sardar accepts the finger marks attributed to him ... are his."

Sardar's fingerprints were not found on the device that killed Sgt Johnson, but the prosecution say that he was part of the team that built it.

The court today heard a vivid account of the moment the bomb went off on the road between the Iraqi capital and Abu Ghraib prison, fatally wounding Sgt Johnson and seriously injuring his comrades.

Specialist Elroy Brooks, one of the five US personnel on board the Stryker eight-wheel armoured vehicle role, told the court he was blown about 50ft (15m) outside the vehicle.

Specialist Brooks said: "The IED had gone off directly under him so when I lifted him it was like there was only half of him left.

"His torso was ripped and his left leg was pretty much just attached by the skin and the rest had been blown off. His eyes were filled with dirt and he had holes all over the place."

Describing the soldier's last moments, he added: "Sgt Johnson was unconscious. We all thought he was dead.

"He then came to and freaked out. He said 'Don't let me die here' - that was all he said. He then passed out. I think he died then."

The blast also left Mark Aggers, who was serving as a gunner on the Stryker, with serious shrapnel wounds.

Specialist Brooks and another two men in the vehicle - Staff Sergeant Joshua Lord and driver Private Luke Stinson - suffered concussion and the explosion left a hole in the vehicle of about a foot and half in diameter while one of its wheels was blown 100ft (30m) down the road.

The trial was adjourned until Friday at 10am.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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