THE Daily Mirror is facing a sales backlash after tarnishing the proud name of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment with hoax torture pictures.

The Blackbrun, Darwen and Great Harwood Newsagents' Federation today reported sales of the paper in the UK had plummeted since the scandal over fake images of British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Bosses of owners Trinity Mirror were expected to release the names of those who provided the photos to military police, following its front page apology and the sacking of editor Piers Morgan.

And around £50,000 generated from the syndicated sale of the photographs will be split between an armed forces' charity and the International Red Cross.

But the moves do not appear to be impressed Lancashire people who feel the paper has let down the QLR, which recruits 90 per cent of its members from the county.

Solly Khonat, secretary of the federation, who runs the Johnston Street newsagent, in Blackburn, said: "Right across the area, newsagents have found that both white and Asian people are switching newspapers.

"People are saying the Mirror has told lies and put lives of soldiers at risk.

"I have 100 Mirrors on sale but I am sending most of those back."

Second World War veteran Jim Pickles, 89, of Emma Street, Accrington, who spent 13 years in QLR, added: "It won't affect the name of the regiment and its old soldiers but I think the paper will lose a lot of readers, especially in Lancashire."

The staged photos, believed to have been taken at QLR barracks in Fulwood, Preston, caused uproar in the Arab world. But a Ministry of Defence inquiry found the type of lorry featured in the shots had never been in Iraq.