THE families of Red Caps murdered in Iraq last night vowed they will not rest until someone is brought to book after an inquest ruled the soldiers were unlawfully killed.

John Hyde, whose 23-year-old son, Lance Corporal Ben Hyde, was one of the men who died at the hands of an Iraqi mob, said someone in the Army had to be held responsible for the death.

Mr Hyde, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was speaking after a coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on six Royal Military Policemen killed by Iraqi insurgents in the southern Iraqi town of al Majar al Kabir, on June 24, 2003.

The Red Caps were apparently mistaken for Paratroopers who had opened fire during a riot in the town that morning.

The men's families are planning to write to the Metropolitan Police to push for the prosecution of the officers involved.

Mr Hyde said: "What we would like to see is the people responsible for the deaths of our sons and husbands brought to book to make sure that it never happens again, so nobody else has to get the knock on the door that we did.

"The Army has a duty of care to its soldiers. In this case, that duty of care was not exercised."

Oxford Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said he would be writing to Defence Secretary Dr John Reid to recommend improvements in equipment and procedure, but said having better communications on the day would probably not have saved the men.

He said he would be addressing Dr Reid on the fact that the men had no means of calling for help because they did not have a satellite telephone and had only 50 rounds of ammunition each, instead of the regulation 150.

They would not have known that Paras in their battle group were in the same area because of the chronic performance of battlefield radios. They did not have a satellite phone because the handsets were in short supply.

Corporals Paul Long, 24, originally from South Shields, South Tyneside, and Simon Miller, 21, from Washington, Wearside, and L Cpl Hyde died in a ruined police station in the town. Sergeant Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, Corporal Russell Aston, 30, and Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, 20, were also killed.

Mr Gardiner stressed that had all of the systems been in place, it was still not certain the men could have been rescued.

John Mackenzie, the families' solicitor, said he was confident the Metropolitan Police would tackle the issue and find answers where the Army's own Board of Inquiry had not.

Ministry of Defence spokes-man Colonel Peter Davies said: "We will be considering carefully all of the implications of the inquest's findings, and the coroner's recommendations to the Secretary of State as a matter of the utmost importance."

Colonel Davies said lessons had been learned and the Army's new Bowman radio was improving communications in the field.

He said: "Responsibility for bringing to justice the individuals suspected of involvement in the deaths of our six military policemen rests with the Iraqi authorities. We are doing all that we can to support that investigation."

It is thought Dr Reid will report to Parliament on the coroner's recommendations when MPs return to the Commons on April 18.