Ex-investigator admits depriving war crimes investigation of potentially valuable information

A former senior investigating officer for the Royal Military Police has admitted depriving a war crimes investigation of potentially valuable information.

Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey OBE was Gold commander of Operation Northmoor between 2016 and 2019, investigating whether UK Special Forces had committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

He told the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan on Tuesday that photographs of dead Afghan males with apparent gunshots to the head "didn't seem right".

But he conceded that, even though the images "cried out for examination", he had not had them sent to experts for further investigation.

Operation Northmoor, a £10m investigation set up in 2014 to examine allegations of executions by special forces, including those of children, resulted in no prosecutions.

The inquiry was shown photographs of 17 dead Afghan men identified in military terms as EKIAs (Enemy Killed in Action) killed during two separate Deliberate Detention Operations (DDOs) in February 2011.

Nine EKIAs could be seen in pictures pertaining to the first DDO on 7 February.

Each had signs of traumatic bleeding to the face or head. Many were lying next to what appeared to be pillows stained with blood.

Counsel to the inquiry, Oliver Glasgow KC, explained that the images are "copies of copies of copies" and therefore of a reduced quality but reminded Lieutenant Colonel Harvey that the photographs he had access to as Gold Commander were of JPEG quality.

The officer, who was awarded an OBE for his work in the role in 2020, the year he left the army, admitted he could have sent the higher-quality pictures.

Mr Glasgow brought up earlier evidence from an officer who was told by an SAS member that the force had a policy of killing all fighting-age males on sight, regardless of the threat they posed.

After conceding that the pictures made him think of that evidence, Mr Harvey conceded that the images "were never submitted".

Photographs of a DDO two nights later on 9 February show eight EKIAs, two of whom were lying in corners of the room, one on what appears to be bedding.

The pillow next to his head was heavily stained with blood and there was blood spatter on the wall.

More from Sky News:
US soldier arrested in UK over alleged spying
Impeachment bid a 'farce' - Hegseth
Chinese spy sex scandal allegations

Under questioning, Lieutenant Colonel Harvey accepted these details, along with the presence of "possibly some kind of blanket" across the chest of one of the EKIAs, could "potentially" suggest the pair were in bed, possibly sleeping.

The inquiry heard the photos had "cried out for examination" but were not sent on to experts.

That lack of further investigation, Mr Glasgow suggested, had "deprived all parties of potentially valuable information" that might have cleared special forces of any wrongdoing.

Mr Harvey agreed, adding that the only reason people would not want photographs to be examined was that "they don't want the answers to come out".

(c) Sky News 2026: Ex-investigator admits depriving war crimes investigation of potentially valuable information