Killer security guard ‘a bit dodgy’

Danny Fitzsimons

A former paratrooper who murdered two colleagues in Iraq had been described as “a bit dodgy” by one of his victims the night he killed him.

Paul McGuigan (37) and Australian Darren Hoare were shot dead by Danny Fitzsimons, a security contractor from Middleton, in 2009.

An inquest into the death of Mr McGuigan, from Tameside, heard how he’d told his fiancée Fitzsimons was “weird” during a Skype call.

Fitzsimons is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Baghdad for the offences.

During his trial in 2011, the former paratrooper told the Iraqi court he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress and claimed he had acted in self-defence.

He had admitted killing Mr McGuigan, originally from Peebles, Scotland, and Darren Hoare in August, 2009. All three had been working for British security firm ArmorGroup, part of G4S, based in the Iraqi capital’s fortified Green Zone.

The inquest, which resumes tomorrow, heard how Fitzsimons has been on hunger strike to force his return to the UK.