AN SAS veteran who works for a Hereford firm that sends trained security guards to Iraq claims British rookie bodyguards are being killed seeking their fortune in the war-torn country.

Risk assessment expert Deck Lower, who works for AKE-Ltd, one of only two Midland firms sending qualified security guards to Iraq, has just spent six weeks working as a specialist security guard in the increasingly hostile country.

Mr Lower, aged 35, claims inexperienced British security guards are being killed or injured risking their lives for the sake of the salaries on offer for carrying out dangerous work.

The veteran soldier, who spent 14 years with the Army - seven of them with the SAS - says the deaths of these men were not being reported in the UK.

He claims many sign up with security firms on the back of adverts on websites that promise excitement, the prospect of fame and £1,000-a-day wages.

In reality, they are thrust into terrifying situations where they stand little chance against blood-thirsty insurgents armed with anything they can get their hands on, he claims.

"Some have been sucked in by websites with Mayfair addresses but when they get into trouble in Iraq there's no support or back-up," said Mr Lower, who plans to move to Worcester from Stourbridge with his wife and two daughters after falling in love with the city.

"Some get hurt and then find they haven't proper insurance or any way of getting back home. They're very vulnerable. Everything about them says they're inexperienced.

"For a start, they don't look right. They wear combats and have their guns on show all the time.

"That's not what we do. We carry small pistols but they're concealed.

"I was protecting Western construction workers and I always wore what they wore, whether suits or casual gear.

"I didn't stay too close to the clients - you don't want to be on top of them - things should be as low-key as possible.

"I heard and met British lads who had two years' training in the Army a long time beforehand and believed it was enough to carry them through."

Despite numerous SAS missions in many of the world's worst war zones and a former master of making trouble spots safer for Western workers, Mr Lower says he has never worked anywhere as "dark" as Iraq is right now.

"I've worked all over the world, but as dangerous places go, Iraq us probably at the top of the list," he said.