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North-east family among Iraq relatives to boycott Chilcot report

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The parents of a north-east soldier killed in Iraq will join other relatives in boycotting tomorrow’s unveiling of the long-awaited Chilcot inquiry report amid fears of a whitewash.

Walter and Diane Douglas, whose son Lance Corporal Allan Douglas died in 2006, have decided against travelling to London from Aberdeen.

The couple will instead receive a copy of the two million word findings, which were six years in the making, through the post.

Mrs Douglas, 65, said she did not believe the truth as to why the UK went to war would ever come out.

She said: “No weapons of mass destruction were found. We want Tony Blair to admit he did wrong which he will never do.

“We want Blair to be tried as a war criminal. Nothing less than that is going to be good enough.

“We are angry. We’ve not had closure. I don’t think we ever will. You just live day to day.”

She also repeated her disappointment at the length of time Sir John Chilcot had taken to complete his report, expected to cost taxpayers more than £10million.

Other relatives of the 179 Britons lost in the conflict are also expected to stay away from the report’s publication, including Janice Procter, whose son Michael Trench, 18, was one of the youngest British soldiers to die in Iraq when he was killed in 2007.

She said she would not “waste two hours of my life reading it”.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicated Mr Blair, prime minister at the time of the 2003 invasion, will not be liable for prosecution, repeating its conclusion 10 years ago that the decision to go to war is not within its jurisdiction.

But a number of MPs are understood to be considering using an ancient law to try to impeach the former prime minister once the report is published.

Mr Blair has said he will not make any comment until the report is made public.

The Chilcot inquiry was set up in 2009 by then prime minister Gordon Brown after the withdrawal of the main body of British troops earlier that year.

It has analysed more than 150,000 government documents as well as other material related to the invasion.

The report comes after 130 sessions of oral evidence and the testimony of more than 150 witnesses.