03/10/2026
The SAS allegedly secretly tracked down and killed two members of a gang who murdered six British military policemen in Iraq.
At the time, the deaths of the Red Caps in June 2003, weeks after Saddam Hussein was toppled, was the largest loss of UK life to enemy forces in the Iraq war.
For 23 years it was thought the killers fled across the border into Iran to escape justice. But in a remarkable development, SAS sources have revealed in a new book that they located a pair of the Iranian-backed gang members involved and killed them.
Aged 41, he came from Chessington in Surrey, and was single.
Sergeant Hamilton-Jewell was known to his friends as ‘HJ’. The Platoon Sergeant of the Parachute Provost Platoon, he joined the Army in August 1988 and joined 156 Provost Company in March 2002.
He had previously served as a soldier in the Territorial Army from 1979 to 1988. He had served in Germany and the UK, and on operations in Northern Ireland, Sarajevo and Sudan, as well as on exercise in Kenya, Poland and France.
As well as being a trained military parachutist, Simon Hamilton-Jewell was a qualified HGV driving instructor, and practised martial arts.
Aged 30, he came from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, and was married with one daughter.
Russ Aston was the company physical training instructor and enjoyed an active social life within the unit. He joined the Army in 1993 and was posted to 156 Provost Company in March 2001 after service with the Grenadier Guards.
Corporal Aston was military parachute trained, and had served in Macedonia and Northern Ireland and on operations in Kenya.
Aged 24, he came from Colchester in Essex.
Born in Portsmouth, Paul Long attended Blackmoor CofE Primary School and All Hallows RC Comprehensive in Aldershot, before moving to South Shields where he attended Hebburn College.
He joined the Regular Army in April 1999, having served two years with the Territorial Army, and was posted to 156 Provost Company in March 2000.
A member of the Parachute Provost Platoon, he was a qualified radio operator. This was his first operational deployment. Paul was a dedicated soldier who loved his work.
His mother Patricia Long, supported by her other t