Former British hostage Peter Moore has revealed for the time details of his two-and-a-half years in captivity in Iraq, including how he was subjected to mock executions.

The 36-year-old IT expert from Lincoln who was seized in Baghdad in May 2007 along with four other men, three of which have been confirmed dead, said he was regularly beaten and thought he was going to be killed on the day of his release.

After spending 946 days in captivity, Mr Moore was finally released in late December last year, returning to the UK in January.

The bodies of three of the computer expert's bodyguards - Alec MacLachlan, 30, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, and Jason Creswell, 39 - were passed to UK authorities in 2009, while the whereabouts of his fourth bodyguard, Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, remain unknown although he is also believed to be dead.

Speaking for the first time since his release, Mr Moore said this week: "The first time I really believed I was being released was when I stepped out of the vehicle and somebody from the Foreign Office walked up to me and said they were there to take me home."

Mr Moore spoke of how his captors had pretended to execute him, saying that in 2007 his experience was "pretty harsh", saying: "We were in chains, shackled, blindfolded, handcuffed, periodically beaten, water poured over us.

"In 2008 things got better. I was separated off from the others. In 2009 things were actually pretty good. Things improved a lot. I was out of the chains.

"I had a PlayStation and satellite TV, a laptop computer, en suite shower, toilet facilities."

Mr Moore also pleaded to his captors to release the body of Mr McMenemy, and lit four candles for his bodyguards at Lincoln Cathedral. He said: "There's still one body left and obviously I ask that that body is released immediately.

"As far as I can see there's no reason to keep that."
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