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Bigley's body is'in a ditch near Fallujah'(The Mail on Sunday Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)THE decapitated body of murdered British hostage Kenneth Bigley is buried in a ditch near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, an Al Qaeda terrorist on trial in Turkey revealed yesterday. Islamic militant Louia al Sakka claims he was in the gang that kidnapped the 62-year-old engineer in September, 2004 and presided over a kangaroo court that ordered his execution. Since then, Mr Bigley's family has spent a desperate 18 months waiting for news of where he was buried. Now, Sakka has revealed from his prison cell in Turkey - where he is being held on bombing charges - that the body is in a makeshift grave near a pond 50 metres from an insurgent checkpoint on the road from the village of Nuamiya to Fallujah, west of the capital Baghdad. British officials said last night there were no immediate plans for UK troops to recover the remains because the grave site is controlled by US forces. Instead, Britain may ask the Americans to recover the body. But last night Mr Bigley's brother Paul attacked British security chiefs for failing to interview Sakka in his jail cell - while America's CIA got a full confession days after his arrest. He said from his home in Holland: 'My brother was murdered in the most barbaric fashion. I have it on good authority that there was no sign of MI6 at that jail when the CIA were in there getting what they needed. The CIA got a full interview and confession out of him and they are long gone.' Paul Bigley also demanded the death penalty for Sakka - and urged Britain to get his brother's body home as soon as possible for a Christian burial. Sakka admitted yesterday that his informal court in Iraq had sentenced Mr Bigley to death in accordance with Islamic Sharia law. He did not say whether he actually carried out the beheading. But he did reveal through his lawyer that the kidnappers decided to execute Mr Bigley after three weeks as a hostage when they disthecovered technical information on his laptop which they believed linked him to US forces. The gang then sold Mr Bigley's Jeep for GBP7,000 and gave the cash to the people of Fallujah. Sakka's lawyer Osman Karahan also revealed Mr Bigley's final moments following Prime Minister Tony Blair's refusal to agree to the kidnapper's demands. He said: 'When Bigley saw Blair's letter [rejecting the demands] he began to cry. He said, 'How cheap a British life is. OK, kill me then'.' Sakka, a Syrian-born supporter of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, issued a written statement admitting he was the chief of security and intelligence for insurgents in Fallujah. He said he took part in decisions leading to many executions. But he claimed he only killed one person personally, a man he said was an American agent. He admitted 150 people were executed when he controlled insurgents in the town. Mr Bigley, from Walton, Liverpool, was snatched in Baghdad with American colleagues Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley from the Gulf Services Company. All three were beheaded. And Mr Bigley's death was shown in a sickening video released on the internet. In his last desperate moments he was seen pleading to 'live a simple life'. Paul Bigley said: 'Sakka deserves death penalty - even if he wasn't the one who actually killed poor Ken. 'I would like to carry it out myself, with a pistol in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. I would not flinch because he would be getting the kind of justice he deserves.' He said he would be calling his mother Lil, 88, at her home to discuss the latest developments. Paul added: 'She spends hours on her knees every day praying that Ken will be found.' Sakka is charged with masterminding and securing finance for bomb attacks on Jewish and British targets in Istanbul in November, 2003, which killed more than 60 people. Paul has vowed to go to Istanbul for the trial and to try to talk to the fanatic. British officials in London said last night they were following up the Turkish lawyer's claims. A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'Ever since the murder of Ken Bigley, we continued to do all we can to establish the full circumstances of his death and to bring those responsible to justice.' |