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A Scots soldier who was crushed to death when a forklift truck driven by a US serviceman hit him was killed accidentally, a coroner concluded.

Captain Dean Sprouting, a dad-of-two from Denny, near Falkirk, was struck by the vehicle when he was jogging at a joint army base in Iraq in January 2018.

The driver refused to attend the inquest held in Oxford yesterday.

Dean’s widow, Linda, said the soldier’s non-appearance was like the US diplomat’s wife who claimed immunity after a hit-and-run death outside an RAF base in England in August.

The inquest heard the driver could have been tried for homicide but US authorities refused to charge him. He could also have been charged with gross negligence, manslaughter and dereliction of duty.

The coroner said he had considered an unlawful killing verdict but had been unable prove it beyond reasonable doubt under

UK law.

Linda said afterwards: “They (the Americans) think they’re infallible and can’t be touched. It is wrong when they’ve clearly committed a crime.”