THE missing Nigerian schoolgirls were located by US and UK intelligence but instead of being rescued were left in the hands of their captors.

The Sunday Times has revealed that the girls — who were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists two years ago — were found by British and American surveillance but Western governments felt powerless to intervene.

The Nigerian government had not officially asked for their help so both the UK and the US felt they could not carry out a rescue mission.

Dr Andrew Pocock, who was British high commissioner to Nigeria, told The Sunday Times that the information was passed on to Nigeria but nothing was done with it.

“A couple of months after the kidnapping, fly-bys and an American eye in the sky spotted a group of up to 80 girls in a particular spot in the Sambisa forest, around a very large tree, called locally the Tree of Life, along with evidence of vehicular movement and a large encampment,” Pocock said.

He said as well as the fact that there had been no request for help from the Nigerian Government a rescue mission was also deemed too risky because the girls lives would have been put in serious jeopardy.

“A land-based attack would have been seen coming miles away and the girls killed,” he said.

“An air-based rescue, such as flying in helicopters or Hercules, would have required large numbers and meant a significant risk to the rescuers and even more so to the girls.”

He also said that they only would have been able to rescue a few and the rest would have been killed.

“You were damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” he said.

The Sunday Times has revealed they were sent gruesome videos showing the rape of the Chibok girls who are being used as sex slaves by the fighters.

Earlier reports are that some have been forcibly married and impregnated.

Dr Stephen Davis, former canon at Coventry Cathedral, who spent numerous months in Nigeria attempting to negotiate the girls’ freedom, said the failure to mount a rescue was “unconscionable and disgusting”.

Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls in 2014 from a school in Chibok and while some managed to escape, the rest have been held captive ever since.

A hashtag #BringBackOurGirls was created shortly after and intense pressure was put on the Nigerian government to find the girls.