THE mother of a trooper cleared of murdering an Iraqi civilian today said her son was determined to carry on fighting for his country.

And Julie Williams called for an apology for Kevin following his six-month ordeal and said the family had been to 'hell and back.'

The 21-year-old army tank driver from Nelson was due to stand trial at the Old Bailey in London for the murder of father-of-nine Hassan Said.

He became the first British serviceman to be charged with murder in Iraq, after an incident near Basra in August 2003.

But a U-turn by prosecution lawyers means the soldier, a trooper with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, now has no case to answer.

It is understood the move comes after the director of public prosecutions reviewed the evidence in the case.

Kevin is expected to be formally cleared at a court hearing tomorrow.

Mum Julie, 47, of Cravendale Avenue, said spoke of her relief in yesterday's Evening Telegraph.

Today she said: "Kevin would expect an apology. I do think he deserves an apology. There was no need for all this. It should not have got this far.

"We have been through hell and back. It shouldn't have got happened at all right from the word go. It's been awful. It's been a nightmare.

"We thought it would be June before it went to trial. We did not expect it to get dropped like this but we are glad that it has.They made an big example of him so I expected it to go all the way.

"To me it was a war situation and in a war situation things happen but he's continuing with the army."

Kevin was part of a patrol which stopped a truck suspected of carrying weapons. Mr Said is believed to have been shot during an attempt to arrest him.

A leading defence expert has also called for an apology.

Charles Heyman said any further cases should be carefully considered before being brought by the CPS.

Mr Heyman served in the British Army between 1962 and 1986, including tours of active service in Borneo, Cyprus, Malaysia and Northern Ireland.

The senior defence analyst at Jane's, the defence and security experts said: "It almost certainly means that the evidence was not reliable enough to go ahead with a prosecution.

"What concerns me is that this young man has been through the most terrible ordeal and I hope that someone from the Crown Prosecution Service will apologise to him.

"This shows that the authorities must be very careful when considering bringing cases against serving soldiers that they are not going ahead with frivolous charges, because these men have volunteered to put their lives on the line for their country."

Kevin's solicitor, Robert Wong, said: "There will be a hearing tomorrow at the Royal Courts of Justice where the Crown Prosecution Service are expected to offer no evidence and that will be an end of it."

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice, who along with Hyndburn MP Greg Pope and Burnley MP Peter Pike, handed in a 2,500 name petition to Number 10 Downing Street asking for charges to be dropped, said: "This case should never have been brought."

Kevin, who had been on bail at his barracks at Catterick, was facing criminal charges because the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith called in the police. The trooper's commanding officer had previously decided he should not face a court martial.

Bradley Ward councillor Mohammed Iqbal, in which Cravendale Avenue lies said many people have spoken to him expressing their joy at the charges being dropped.