From: Rusty�Bullethole, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Toy soldier: The life and death of a wannabe hero ------------------------------------------------- War games When police shot dead a man in Yorkshire on Sunday, an intriguing story began to unfold. He was a mercenary sniper, said the first reports, who had been traumatised by killing almost 50 Serbs and the discovery that his father had lied to him about his own wartime record. But within hours a very different picture was emerging. Steven Morris and David Ward in search of the real Kirk Davies Steven Morris and David Ward Thursday September 28, 2000 The Guardian Quite what thoughts were racing through Kirk Davies' mind as, dressed in black and wielding a gun draped in camouflage netting, he was chased by police marksmen into a patch of Yorkshire woodland will never be known. Perhaps he did not think, for, as a trained soldier who served with the Duke of Wellington's regiment in Northern Ireland, his every instinct must have been screaming to him that he was in mortal danger. He would have known all too well that by refusing to halt or to throw down his weapon - which was later found to be an air rifle - he was giving the police marksmen little choice. Inevitably the shots rang out and 30-year-old Davies died in hospital a few hours later. As Davies' family mourned and detectives yesterday continued piecing together his final hours, the bizarre details of his life - in which reality and fantasy are inextricably entwined - began to emerge. It was revealed that he was convicted of threatening his father with a kukri knife, the traditional curved blade of the Gurkhas, after supposedly learning that the older man had lied about his being an SAS hero. Furthermore, his jail sentence was reduced after his legal team argued that Davies, who dressed in Croatian uniform for the showdown with his father, was a crack sniper with the Croatian army who had killed almost 50 Serbs. But the case of Kirk Davies took another twist when a Croatian veterans' organisation dismissed his claims of heroism during the Balkans war as "rubbish". Just like his father, Davies had seemingly lied about his military past. There is no doubt that Davies was one of the hundreds of British men who served alongside the Croatians during the Balkans war. But the claim of almost 50 kills does not hold water. Davies has been long known to the Croatian government and to members of the Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association, a group of veterans of the Balkans conflict which is based in Britain and recognised by the Croatian government. The association set about checking his claims after hearing of the previous court case and does not believe a word of his story. Using files from the Croatian army and eyewitness reports, its researchers have concluded that Davies spent only 11 days on the frontline in the Balkans, never killed anybody and was given a dishonourable discharge. The uniform which he had worn to confront his father should have been confiscated. The association's secretary Daniel Kington, himself a veteran of the conflict, said Davies was kicking his heels in January 1992 after deserting the British army - he claimed he left because of the lack of action - wondering what to do next when he spotted an article in a local newspaper about a man he used to work alongside in a travel agency, Steve Gaunt. Gaunt was back in Britain on a fortnight's leave from the Croatian army. Davies managed to contact Gaunt and begged him to take him along when he returned to the Balkans. Such was the shortage of men in the Croatian army, especially those who had the sort of training Davies had, that all volunteers were welcome. According to Croatian army records he arrived in the war-torn country on February 1 1992. There was no proper vetting procedure and he was readily accepted as a private. Soldiers like Davies are often dubbed mercenaries but in truth make little money from such a conflict - it is thought Davies would have picked up only about L35 a month. Some no doubt fight under another country's flag because they believe in the cause, but many more join simply because they enjoy war. Even the Croatian Forces Volunteers Association concedes that perhaps a quarter of the estimated 2,800 foreigners who fought in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo were there for selfish reasons, perhaps because they were social misfits or criminals on the run. Gaunt, who lost part of a foot when he stepped on a landmine, says he signed up because he believed in the Croatian cause - but believes Davies' aims were not so noble. "He was just a pleasure seeker. He was supposed to be a trained soldier but he knew absolutely nothing about soldiering. He knew about [gun] calibres and the history of some military units but he often left me worrying." Another possible clue for Davies' reasons are to be found in the diary of one veteran who wrote: "He [Davies] came close to telling the truth. He said he wasn't here to help Croatia but for his own self-esteem." Certainly Davies' British services record is not one to be overly proud of. He joined up in November 1987 when he was 17 and was discharged for misconduct in May 1994 after going Awol some years previously. He remained a private, a military source saying that his lack of promotion accurately reflected his abilities. Still he was recruited into the 109th brigade of the Croatian army. According to the army records he spent 11 days on the frontline and he and his colleagues were then moved back to a reserve position a couple of kilometres from the main area of fighting near Vinkovci.
