Footage of a friendly fire incident in which a British soldier died in Iraq will not be shown in open court at his inquest, the coroner investigating the death said today.

The Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner, Andrew Walker, said he had made a "pragmatic" decision not to show the cockpit video, taken from one of two US A-10 planes that attacked a British convoy, killing Lance Corporal Matty Hull.

He added that the decision had been taken to ensure continued US cooperation with the inquest.

It comes despite the leaking of the tape to the Sun newspaper last week. The footage has since been shown repeatedly on television, and transcripts of the tape have been published.

The footage will instead be brought to the court by a ministry of defence official and shown in private to the coroner and Lance Corporal Hull's family.

"I can say quite categorically that if it were not for the potential delay and distress this would cause the family, I would not be willing to be bound by an agreement with the US as to use of evidence that I consider crucial to this inquest," Mr Walker told the pre-inquest hearing prior to the full inquest, which begins on March 12.

"I would be wrong to accept that the US are correct in seeking to bind the hands of the coroners' court in this way.

"But in these circumstances I feel that, in order to make progress and provide the family with closure, it seems to me that I must act in this way as far as the copy of that video is concerned."

Lance Corporal Hull died in a burning armoured vehicle in March 2003, three days before his 26th birthday, after the US planes opened fire on a Household Cavalry Regiment patrol near Basra, in southern Iraq. Four other British soldiers were injured.

The soldier's family have said they were initially told no such footage of the incident existed. It first came to light when Mr Walker said he had been handed a copy and wanted to play it before the hearing.

At today's hearing, he was told by Leigh-Ann Mulcahy, an MoD lawyer, that the US government had authorised the transcript of the video to be presented in open court.

However, the footage itself - which is of poor quality and shows little of what is happening on the ground - could not be shown in public, she said.

The coroner asked whether he could get the video analysed or enhanced, but was told he did not have US authorisation.

The lawyer representing Lance Corporal Hull's widow, Susan, said the video was crucial evidence and there was "an artificial situation in discussing these conditions when the video has been displayed and is available around the world".

"I would say there is a lack of cooperation on behalf of the US government," Geraldine McCool said.

She added that the Hull family would rather the coroner cooperated with the US to ensure further information, such as transcripts of the US investigation into the pilots' training hours, was received.

Mr Walker, who has repeatedly criticised the MoD over the issue of the tape, again spoke of his frustration today.

"It seems to me that this inquest creeps forward step by step," he said. "Each time I hear something new, I have to approach the MoD to seek clarification about that point.

"The time has come where I should be entitled to see all the material and form a judgment on what I have seen. I'm not unreasonable, I shall be fair but this investigation needs to be thorough.

"I just want to know, and I'm sure the family want to know, why this happened, in as much detail as possible."

The tape shows the two A-10 pilots, both later identified as reservists with no previous combat experience, attacking the British convoy despite seeing orange panels on the roofs of vehicles - an indicator of friendly forces during the invasion of Iraq.

"I'm going to be sick," one says on being told that the attack has killed a soldier. He adds: "We're in jail, dude."