Father criticises 'immoral' Blair

The father of an American beheaded by kidnappers in Iraq today called on Tony Blair to pull troops out of the country to win the release of Ken Bigley.

Michael Berg is the father of Nick, 26, whose death in June caused worldwide revulsion after it became the first beheading in Iraq to be broadcast on the internet.

Today Mr Berg claimed the Prime Minister was "immoral" to keep the military in Iraq while lives were at risk from terrorism.

He spoke as Mr Bigley's mother Lil returned home from hospital, after collapsing following an anguished TV appeal to his captors to show mercy.

Mr Berg said the plight of Mr Bigley was "terrible" and the killings were immoral. But he added: "It's equally immoral for your Prime Minister Mr Blair to stand there and say there is nothing he can do about it, as I heard him say on American radio today.

"In fact there is. He can't control George Bush but he can withdraw British troops from Iraq."

The retired teacher - an antiwar activist before his son's murder at the hands of terrorists - told BBC Radio 4 he did not believe withdrawal would be a surrender. "The first step in stopping the killing is for the West to get out of the Middle East," he said.

"I think that our moral duty is to get out of Iraq. If we do our moral duty, I don't think we can be accused of undoing our moral duty at the same time."

Meanwhile Mrs Bigley, 86, was recovering today after being taken ill last night. Earlier she had faced television cameras for the first time to add her voice to pleas to save her son's life.

But the strain took its toll and she was taken by ambulance from her Liverpool home to Aintree University Hospital. Mr Bigley's brother Paul said she had been put on a cardiograph machine, adding: "I was fearing it. We've had a double whammy. She's had a heart problem for a long time."

Earlier consultant Dr Mashood Siddiqi said she had been under a lot of stress but was coping.

The family was today clinging to the hope that Mr Bigley was still alive. In New York, Foreign Secretary-Jack Straw told the United Nations the Government was doing all it could to free the 62-year-old civil engineer.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families," he said.

But Britain has ruled out negotiating with the kidnappers, who want the release of all Iraqi women prisoners they say are held in US-run jails. The interim Iraqi government said prime minister Iyad Allawi would not allow the release of two Iraqi women, former weapons scientists who are in US custody.

Breaking down in tears last night, Mrs Bigley said of her son: "Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive. His family needs him and I need him."

The two Americans who were taken hostage with Mr Bigley have already been murdered.