Kenneth Bigley: Encyclopedia II - Kenneth Bigley - His death

Kenneth Bigley - His death

Despite the efforts to save him, Bigley was beheaded on October 7, 2004. His death was first reported on Abu Dhabi television the following day. He was only weeks away from retirement and the birth of his first grandchild. A multi-faith memorial service, attended by Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, was held for him in Liverpool on November 13. As of December 2005, his body has not been recovered.

The kidnappers made a film apparently showing Bigley's killing, and the tape was subsequently posted on Islamist websites and on one "shock" site. According to reporters who watched the film, Bigley was wearing an orange jumpsuit, and read out a statement, before one of the kidnappers stepped forward and cut off his head with a knife. However, as with the Nick Berg video, the events may not be in real time. According to some of those who have watched it, there appear to be continuity gaps, and the final scene shows what some have interpreted as a bullet wound to Bigley's head.

News reports [2] published after Bigley's death suggested he had briefly managed to escape from the kidnappers with the help of two MI6 agents of Syrian and Iraqi origin, who paid two of his captors to help him. The captors attempted to drive Bigley, who was carrying a gun and was disguised, out of town, the reports said, but he was spotted and recaptured at an insurgent checkpoint.

After his death, the British media were criticized for the amount of news coverage his situation had been given. The same high-coverage news strategy was notably absent in the case of Margaret Hassan, the Irish-born aid worker, who held Irish, British and Iraqi citizenship, who was kidnapped on October 19, 2004 and killed two weeks later.

The sometimes controversial columnist Mark Steyn had his column pulled from the British Daily Telegraph on October 11, 2004 when in it he stated that Bigley's last words "Tony Blair has not done enough for me" would not be high up on his list of final utterances.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "His death", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki