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| Cab driver Anis Sardar jailed for Iraq bomb murder | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A London cab driver has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years for the murder of a US soldier in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2007. | A London cab driver has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years for the murder of a US soldier in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2007. |
| Anis Sardar, 38, from Wembley, built bombs as part of a conspiracy to kill Americans fighting in the country. | Anis Sardar, 38, from Wembley, built bombs as part of a conspiracy to kill Americans fighting in the country. |
| One caused the death of 34-year-old Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson, of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. | One caused the death of 34-year-old Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson, of 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. |
| Sardar showed no emotion as Judge Mr Justice Globe told him he must be detained for "an extremely long time". | |
| During his trial, Sardar told jurors he had become involved in the Iraqi insurgency to protect his fellow Sunni Muslims from Shia militias. | |
| But handing down his sentence at Woolwich Crown Court, the judge said he was satisfied that Sardar's actions were not solely focused on the Shia militia, and that the focus was "wholly or partly the Americans". | |
| The judge told Sardar that Sgt Johnson, a family man with two young children, had been described by his commanding officer, Major Eric Adams, as showing "deep compassion" in leading his platoon. | |
| The judge said: "It is therefore the saddest irony that when the eight-wheel Stryker vehicle containing the American soldiers ran over and exploded an IED it was Sgt First Class Johnson who was killed." | |
| He said the loss of Sgt Johnson, who was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star posthumously, was "one of the sad tragedies in what was going on in Iraq in 2007". | |
| He added: "By the jury's verdict it is a loss for which you are directly responsible." | |
| Sardar's conviction in a UK court for his role in the Iraq insurgency was hailed a "landmark prosecution" on Thursday. | |
| Sue Hemming, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said that it showed international borders were "no barrier" to terrorists in the UK being prosecuted for murder committed anywhere in the world. |