BOUND, blindfolded and tied in a net, an Iraqi prisoner lies helpless on bare concrete at a British base near Basra. Crouching with a pool of water at his feet, he is powerless as a British soldier stands on him.

Lance Corporal Darren Larkin appears to be pretending to surf on his victim, seemingly unaware that he is in a country where even the slightest contact with the soles of the feet is regarded as a grave insult.

At least three comrades from the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers look on, two taking photographs.

The image will cause outrage across the Arab world and severely undermine the reputation of the British Army. General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, took the extraordinary step of issuing a personal statement to condemn any abuse by British soldiers.

The photograph was one of 22 presented yesterday at the court martial of Larkin and two of his comrades who are accused of “shocking and appalling” abuse and sadistic maltreatment of Iraqi detainees.

In one, two detainees are apparently forced to simulate anal sex while giving the thumbs up, in a pretence that their act was voluntary. In another, a prisoner lies trussed on the floor while a soldier appears to swing a punch.

The court at Osnabrück, Germany, heard that the victims were civilians caught trying to steal food from an aid centre known as Camp Bread Basket in May 2003. The photographs came to light after a film was taken to be developed at a high street shop in Britain by Fusilier Gary Bartlam, who was convicted of a number of offences in connection with them last week.

Larkin, 30, has admitted one charge of assaulting an unknown man at the camp, but denies another. His lawyer said: “He accepts that he has brought shame to himself, his regiment and his family.”

Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, and Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, have denied charges including forcing detainees to strip and simulate sex acts.

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