One of three British soldiers being court martialled for abusing Iraqi prisoners had the outstanding charge against him dropped today.

Lance Corporal Darren Larkin was accused of forcing two detainees to strip, moments before they were made to simulate sex acts while being photographed by soldiers.

This morning the abuse charge against Lance Corporal Larkin, 30, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was dropped at a court martial in Germany. He has already admitted one charge of assaulting a civilian prisoner, after he was pictured in his boxer shorts standing on top of an Iraqi prisoner. .

The move came after a key prosecution witness changed his evidence under cross-examination earlier this week, saying he was no longer sure who it was he saw.

Speaking outside court, Lance Corporal Larkin said: "It is a great relief."

Lance Corporal Larkin is one of three British soldiers appearing before a court martial in Germany, accused of abusing and assaulting prisoners at Camp Bread Basket, a humanitarian aid camp in Basra, in May 2003.

One charge against Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, from Newcastle upon Tyne, of aiding and abetting Larkin, was also dropped. Kenyon, and Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, also from Newcastle upon Tyne, still face a series of other prisoner abuse charges.

Judge Advocate Michael Hunter ordered the panel of seven officers hearing the case to find him and Kenyon not guilty of the charge after the prosecution said they would no longer be proceeding with that allegation. Today’s move means that no soldiers are now being charged with making the Iraqis strip before the photographs were taken.

The prosecution decided to drop the charges after Corporal Jonathan Petrice - a colleague of the defendants - said in evidence that he was no longer sure that he had seen Larkin ordering the Iraqis to take off their clothes. He said the man he witnessed was dressed in combat trousers but he now knew that Larkin had been wearing boxer shorts after seeing a picture of him in newspapers.

Cpl Petrice said: "It has just really conflicted me as to whether it was him or not."

The soldiers, from the First Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, are accused of abusing and assaulting prisoners at a humanitarian aid camp near Basra in May 2003, after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

They claim there were ordered to hand out harsh punishment to anyone caught looting food from the base, known as Camp Bread Basket, in a crackdown dubbed Operation Ali Baba.

Kenyon and Cooley deny all the remaining charges against them. Kenyon is accused of aiding and abetting unknown soldiers to force the Iraqi males to simulate sex acts. Cooley faces three charges including posing for photographs as though punching and kicking an Iraqi prisoner and driving a fork lift truck with a detainee suspended from the forks.

Judge Advocate Hunter said Larkin would not be sentenced for the assault charge he has admitted until the end of the court martial.

Photographs released in that case last month caused widespread revulsion, threatening to damage the reputation of the Army and spark reprisal attacks in Iraq.

The images included naked Iraqi prisoners simulating sex acts, British soldiers pretending to punch and kick bound men, and a prisoner - grimacing with fear - tied to the raised forks of a forklift truck.

Two days after the photographs were published, five British troops were seriously injured by a vehicle bomb at Shaibah logistics base, near Basra. A group linked to al-Qaeda claimed that it carried out the attack in retaliation.

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