THE court martial of a Preston Territorial Army soldier over fake torture pictures printed in the Daily Mirror was officially opened this week.

Private Stuart Mackenzie, 25, of Tulketh Brow, Preston, appeared before a Judge Advocate General and panel members at a hearing at Catterick Garrison near Richmond, North Yorkshire, on Monday.

No charges were read to Mackenzie during the proceedings, which saw the three strong panel, all serving military personnel, sworn in, and the discussion of legal arguments.

The controversial photographs made worldwide headlines in May after purportedly showing British soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) abusing hooded Iraqi detainees.

One picture showed a soldier apparently urinating on a victim cowering on the floor.

The Mirror later printed a front-page apology with a pledge to donate money to charity following the alleged hoax which also led to the sacking of the newspaper's editor, Piers Morgan.

A Royal Military Police inquiry found that the type of lorry shown in the shots had never been used in Iraq and was reportedly identified as a lorry based at the regimental headquarters of the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers at Kimberley Barracks, Deepdale Road, Preston.

Mackenzie, who works for the Inland Revenue, is in the TA, but went to serve with forces in Iraq attached to 1st Battalion, QLR.

The part-time soldier, originally, from Haslingden, near Blackburn, who did not speak throughout the hearing, will next appear before Judge Advocate Paul Camp and the panel at a date yet to be fixed.