BULFORD CAMP (BBC) - A British soldier has pleaded guilty to the war crime of inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians.

Cpl Donald Payne, 35, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, pleaded guilty to the charge at the start of a court martial of seven UK soldiers.

Cpl Payne denies manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

Six other soldiers have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the death of Iraqi Baha Mousa, 26, while he was in custody in Basra in 2003.

The charges also relate to the alleged ill-treatment of other detainees.

The inhumane treatment of persons charge faced by three of the soldiers - including Cpl Payne - is being brought as a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act (ICCA) 2001.

The court martial, at the Military Court Centre at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, is the first time British military personnel have been prosecuted under the act.

All other charges against Cpl Payne and his co-defendants are being brought under the British Army Act 1955.