A MILITARY judge threw out yesterday the guilty plea of Lynndie England, the most visible figure in the Abu Ghraib scandal, bringing her trial to an abrupt end.

Colonel James Pohl said he was not convinced that she knew her actions in the Baghdad jail were wrong at the time.

His ruling left her fate uncertain and cancels the plea bargain Specialist England worked out with prosecutors in which she would have faced little more than two years in jail.

One option arising from yesterday’s unexpected events would be to dismiss all charges against her. Colonel Pohl’s ruling followed evidence that contradicted the guilty plea to abusing Iraqi prisoners that Specialist England entered with the court martial this week.

The evidence came from Charles Graner, serving a ten-year prison sentence for his role as ringleader of the prisoner abuse. He said that Specialist England had been responding to his orders when she held a naked Iraqi prisoner on a leash.

The judge repeatedly interrupted proceedings to warn defence lawyers that evidence in mitigation to secure a shorter sentence was at odds with the guilty plea.

He halted the case after Graner, a former prison guard from Pennsylvania, said he had taken a photograph of the prisoner on the leash as a legitimate training aid for other guards and to help the US military to develop its practices.

The picture became one of the most notorious images of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners inside Abu Ghraib jail.

Colonel Pohl said to Specialist England: “There is evidence being presented that you are not guilty. If you do not believe you are guilty and you honestly believe you were doing what Graner told you to do, you can’t plead guilty.” He sharply admonished her lawyer for introducing evidence that contradicted the defendant.

On Monday Specialist England told the court martial at Fort Hood Army base in Texas that she knew the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of other guards, and also that she knew they were wrong.

After a recess, the judge returned to announce that neither side could resolve the inconsistency.

The prosecution could now maintain some of the charges, reopen the whole investigation or dismiss the charges.

Graner, who is reportedly the father of Specialist England’s young baby, has since married another soldier charged in the scandal, Megan Ambuhl. She pleaded guilty and received a dishonourable discharge.

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