Betrayed: The Iraqis who risked all for Britain

His case is now one of 12 test claims being brought in the High Court by Iraqi translators and other workers who believe they have been betrayed by Britain. Many more are still in hiding, under sentence of death after being branded "collaborators and spies" by the militias.

On Friday Sami's widow, Suhad Jassim Mohammed, began legal action against the UK government to hold Britain to account over her husband's death. She claims the British Army owed Sami, a trusted worker, a duty of care but failed to honour that duty. As the case is publicly played out in the UK courts, the tragedy of Sami Mohammed will have a resonance for millions of other Iraqis who had likewise invested hope in Britain's intervention in Iraq. For many, that hope has already turned to despair.

For Sami Faleh Mohammed, 44, it is too late. At around 8am on Monday 14 August 2006, Sami finished his shift with the soldiers and left the British army base of Shaibah in Basra. His private hire car was ambushed on the road home. Sami was dragged out of the vehicle and beaten before being driven away by his attackers. Later that evening his body was found dumped near a police station in the city. He had been shot in the face four times.