By John Hall and Ian Drury and Stephen Wright Created: 05:19 EST, 25 March 2014 A legal firm has taken £2.5 million in taxpayers money from a public inquiry into the deaths of Iraqi men - even though the investigation's key claim has now been abandoned due to a lack of evidence. Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers represented the relatives of more than 20 Iraqis who claimed the men were taken prisoner by British soldiers, and later mistreated and murdered. Despite the relatives withdrawing their claims last week, the Al-Sweady Public Inquiry confirmed that it has spent more than £22million of public money on the investigation - including handing £2.5million over to Public Interest Lawyers run by the 'committed socialist' solicitor Phil Shiner.
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Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers took millions from inquiry
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Money was spent bringing witnesses from Iraq to Britain for evidence
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Also built studio for other witnesses to provide evidence via video-link
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However Public Interest Lawyers claim they earned less than £70,000
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Relatives admit there is no evidence that Iraqi prisoners were murdered
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An earlier version of this story stated that the Al-Sweady Inquiry had collapsed. In fact, while the primary strand of the inquiry is no longer proceeding, other parts of the inquiry are proceeding as planned. We are happy to clarify this.
evidence to suggest the insurgents were unlawfully killed in @placeholder custody.