Banter ‘got out of hand’

A SECURITY guard shot dead his colleague in Iraq after “banter” about their former regiments got out of hand, an inquest heard.

Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare were murdered by ex-paratrooper and former Our Lady’s Catholic School pupil Danny Fitzsimons in 2009.

Kevin Milsom, one of their colleagues, told an inquest into Mr McGuigan’s death how “good-natured” rivalry resulted in violence.

Fitzsimons, from Rochdale, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Baghdad. He admitted killing Mr McGuigan, from Tameside, and Mr Hoare, in August, 2009.

Since the killings, the Fitzsimons family have questioned whether their son was well enough to be employed by the security firm.