The shooting dead of British cameraman James Miller by an Israeli soldier in Gaza was murder, an inquest jury found yesterday. The jury also said Israeli authorities had "not been forthcoming" about how and why Miller, 34, was killed by a single shot fired by the soldier.
The verdict provides Miller's family with a springboard to seek the Israeli soldier's prosecution in Britain for intentionally shooting dead an unarmed non-combatant. The family's lawyers said the killing breached the Geneva convention and the jury's finding that the shooting was intentional put pressure on the British government to act.
They will press the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, to seek the extradition and prosecution of the soldier in Britain for the May 2003 murder if Israel continues to refuses to try him. Miller's killer was named at St Pancras coroner's court in London as Lieutenant Heib.
The coroner, Andrew Reid, said he would write to the attorney general about how similar fatalities could be prevented. A court official said this could include a request for Lord Goldsmith to examine how the soldier could be prosecuted.
The jury unanimously found that Miller, from Braunton, Devon, was unlawfully killed. Its forewoman said: "This was an unlawful shooting with the intention of killing Mr James Miller. Therefore we can come to no other conclusion than that Mr Miller was indeed murdered." At that moment the cameraman's family started to sob. The jury added: "It is a fact that from day one to this inquest the Israeli authorities have not been forthcoming in the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Miller's death."
Miller was making a documentary when he was killed as he and colleagues tried to leave a Palestinian house where they had been filming. An award-winning documentary maker, he and two colleagues were clad in body armour and protective helmets and clutching a white flag with a torch shining on it when they came under fire from an Israeli armoured personnel carrier.
After the verdict, the cameraman's sister, Katie Miller, said: "I wake up every morning and I am struck by the horror of the fact that somebody murdered James. It is still another point in the journey."
Colonel Geoffrey Miller, the cameraman's father, said: "It's been three years of protracted torture brought about by the Israelis." The family alleged at the inquest that Foreign Office officials had tried to pressure them into giving in to Israeli demands. Col Miller said of the British government: "They've been totally supine and ineffective. At one stage they were as obstructive as the Israelis."
Miller's mother, Eileen, 67, said: "We've managed to rally enough resources to fight this, but Palestinians can't fight this, and there's been hundreds of Palestinian deaths."
The Israeli embassy said a two-year investigation had been carried out into the shooting, but the results were "inconclusive and could not provide a basis for proceeding under criminal law".
A spokesman for the attorney general said: "The attorney general has asked to see a full report of the inquest, including the evidence that was given, so he may consider the implications of the verdict."