A FIVE -year-old hostage from Worcester made to pose alongside Saddam Hussein in the run up to the first Gulf War was reunited with US civil rights campaigner the Revd Jesse Jackson, who helped secure his eventual release.

The haunting images of a clearly terrified Stuart Lockwood clad in a football top and stood before the Iraqi dictator, who playfully ruffled the child's hair, provoked outrage and consternation across the West.

Mr Lockwood, now 24, his brother and parents, were amongst a number of Britons used as human shields by the Iraqis during the 1990 conflict.

His father Derek, who has since died, was working as a chemical engineer in the Kuwaiti oil industry when his family was kidnapped.

While his wife and the two boys were held hostage for a month before being released, Derek Lockwood was detained for a further three months.

Mr Jackson played an instrumental role in negotiations to secure the release of the Western hostages in Iraq.