Photographs of the Iraqi pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition at the centre of the trial of SAS sniper Danny Nightingale emerged for the first time yesterday.

The pictures, revealed at a court martial, show the cache found stashed in the 38-year-old's bedroom during a raid on his rented accommodation in September 2011.

The 9mm Glock handgun - which Sgt Nightingale told investigators he was given as a gift while serving in Iraq in 2007 - was found in the wardrobe, while 338 rounds of ammunition were retrieved from beneath his bed, the military court has heard. Yesterday the hearing was told the Special Forces hero, from Crewe, 'falsely confessed' to illegally smuggling the Iraqi pistol back to Britain as a war trophy.




Weapon: The handgun (pictured) and 338 rounds of ammunition were discovered in his bedroom during a raid on his rented accommodation in September 2011






Denial: Sgt Nightingale said he had left his kit in Iraq while repatriating the bodies of two friends who were killed on operations

Sgt Nightingale shared the rented house with a Special Forces comrade, identified only as Soldier N, while they were deployed in Afghanistan.




Hearing: Sergeant Danny Nightingale, 38, had told investigators he had been given the 9mm Glock handgun as a gift when he was serving in Iraq in 2007

Soldier N is now serving two years in military prison after admitting possessing prohibited firearms, including a Glock pistol.

William Clegg, defending, suggested Soldier N could have planted the other weapon in his housemate’s bedroom to avoid getting a tougher sentence.

He also claimed Sgt Nightingale’s original confession might have been a false memory triggered by a brain injury he suffered during a 132-mile charity run though the Brazilian jungle.

The court heard his medical condition makes him fill in any gaps in his memory by unconsciously piecing together information he has been told – a process known as ‘confabulation’.

Mr Clegg said it would be a ‘truly remarkable coincidence’ if both soldiers living in the same house had brought back the same type of pistol from Iraq.

Giving evidence to the military court in Bulford, Wiltshire, Sgt Nightingale said he had left his kit in Iraq while repatriating the bodies of two friends who were killed on operations.

He claimed he had no idea how it had been packed up and returned to the UK.

He added: ‘I have no physical or tangible memory if I can’t breathe, smell or taste it. I have no recollection of receiving the gun.’

Sgt Nightingale, of Crewe, Cheshire, was jailed for 18 months last year. This was reduced to 12 months suspended after a vigorous campaign led by his wife Sally and supported by the Daily Mail.

His conviction was later quashed and a retrial ordered after the Court of Appeal said the judge had pressured him into pleading guilty.

The trial continues.



Arrival: Sergeant Danny Nightingale and wife Sally, with other family members, arriving at his court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, yesterday