RECENTLY KILLED DAVIES WAS PROBLEMATIC, SAY HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS

ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - British citizen Kirk Davies, who had boasted of having killed 46 Serbs with a sniper during the Homeland War in Croatia was problematic and a bad soldier, according to his fellow soldiers. #L# Croatian media, citing British press, reported British police show Davies down near a psychiatric hospital in Selby, having refused to lower a gun he was wielding. The weapon was later found to have been a pellet gun. The press also said Davies had previously abused police officers and hospital patients. Davies was a problematic and bad soldier, retired Croatian Army captain Raymond van der Linden, told Hina, adding that as such, he could not have been a sniper. Captain Van der Linden and his fellow soldier Stephen Gaunt, who is currently living in the Croatian eastern town of Vinkovci, said Davies had had several collisions with military police in Vinkovci, was prone to alcohol and had not fulfilled his military duties conscientiously. The story of him having killed 46 Serbs is utter nonsense, they asserted. According to him, foreign volunteers of the Homeland War did not like him because of his difficult personality and inappropriate behaviour which sullied their reputation. It is true that after returning to Great Britain, having had his "infamous adventure" in Croatia, he had caused problems to his family and had frequently been in conflicts with the law, they said. According to the Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association, Davies was a volunteer, member of the National Guard Corps 109th brigade. However, the media say the Croatian Defence Ministry claims he was never formally registered as a member of the Croatian Armed Forces. The Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association, which has been active in Great Britain since 1995, is actively cooperating with British police in the entire case, van der Linden said. He stressed they wished to help the police solve the incident so as to prevent the reputation of foreign volunteers of the Homeland War, many of them living in Great Britain, from being tarnished. (hina) lml