HE DIDN'T GIVE A DAMN - SECRET SAS HERO REVEALED

The Daily Record, 2 May 2006

Colonel Ian Crooke ended coup in Gambia. He plotted storming of Iranian embassy. And led a crack team in hunt for IRA gunmen.

By Mark Mcgivern

THREE thousand miles away, Britain was recovering from Royal Wedding fever. But Colonel Ian Crooke could have cared less about all that... he was busy saving a country single-handed.

It was July 1981. And while Charles and Di sunned themselves on honeymoon in the Med, Crooke was on an SAS mission to an African nation in the grip of a Marxist coup. The Gambia was a Commonwealth member and a valued British ally. The powers-that-be in London were concerned about events, and Crooke was sent to the capital, Banjul, to "observe and advise".

Few soldiers have ever exceeded their remit so spectacularly.

First, Crooke freed dozens of hostages while armed only with a white coat and a stethoscope. Then he casually took command of a foreign army and put the rebels to flight. The top brass were horrified and threatened Crooke with court martial. But then they thought about it and gave him a medal instead.

By the time of the Gambia coup, Crooke had already helped plan the storming of the Iranian embassy in London and fought the IRA in Ulster's badlands.

But it was his exploits in Africa which earned him a unique place in Army folklore. And he remains a living legend in the SAS and his old regiment, the King's Own Scottish Borderers.

Ian Crooke on the right, with Clive Fairweather

His friend and SAS comrade, Clive Fairweather, told the Record: "Crooke is one man about whom you could say he really didn't give a damn.

"He liked to brawl and raise hell and was one to note for the Military Police. But he would always get a job done." Crooke's job in The Gambia began when 400 Marxist rebels seized control of the country while the president, Sir Dawda Jawarra, was away at the RoyalWedding.

The 39-year-old major, then third in command of the SAS, was given two sergeants and told to head for Banjul, unarmed and in civilian clothes.

Crooke found the rebels in control of key positions. They were holding dozens of hostages, including Jawarra's former wife and children.

The only opposition was a small force from neighbouring Senegal, sent by their government to crush the rebels. They had taken control of Banjul airport.

Crooke crept around the city under cover of darkness, assessing the strength of the rebels. His conclusion - they were there for the taking.

Next day, Crooke and his sergeants acquired stethoscopes and white coats and took a taxi to a local hospital where hostages were being held.

They convinced the rebels outside that they were doctors. Then, without weapons, they disarmed the guards inside and freed several prisoners.

Later that day, Crooke strolled into the airport and introduced himself to the Senegalese. And after a quick chat with their senior officer, he found himself appointed their new commander.

Crooke set to work harrying the rebels. Then he put together an assault force and headed for the barracks where the most important hostages were held.

Crooke led the attack from the turret of an armoured car. The firepower he brought to bear on the rebels quickly persuaded them to surrender.

The hostages were freed. And next day, a similar assault drove the enemy from their last stronghold in Banjul. Fairweather believes Crooke was the only man who could have pulled off such an astonishing victory.

He said: "Crooke spent a lot of time in Africa and knew the African psyche. He knew the rebels would lose heart if he convinced them they were faced with a well equipped and aggressive force."

Crooke had a lot of explaining to do when he got home. But with 100 hostages saved and the Gambian government restored, plans to court-martial him were quietly forgotten. Instead, Crooke was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, one of the Army's highest decorations.

Fairweather said: "Crooke knew some outrageous stuff had gone down in The Gambia. But if he had stuck to his remit closely, the situation would have been a lot worse. The DSO is the recognition of that."

Crooke and Fairweather were young officers together when the KOSB took on rebels in Borneo in 1965.

Both are now backing the campaign, reported in yesterday's Record, against a decision by Whitehall bureaucrats to ban the veterans from wearing medals they received from the Malaysian government for their service.

Crooke flew back from South Africa, where he now lives, to attend a reunion of Borneo veterans in Edinburgh at the weekend.

Like many KOSB officers, Crooke and Fairweather went on to join the SAS. Andin 1980, bothhelped plan the dramatic assault on the besieged Iranian embassy in central London. Fairweather, the SAS second in command, directed operations from HQ. Crooke was at the scene, and laid much of the groundwork for the attack that freed more than 20 hostages and killed five terrorists.

In the late 1970s, Crooke was an intelligence officer in Ulster.

It should have been a desk job. But he spent much of his time in "bandit country", helping his crack team hunt for leading Provos such as "The Border Fox", Dessie O'Hare.

Fairweather said: "Crooke did everything he could to get mobilised, meetingintelligence sources, police contacts and strippingdown every bit of detail.

"He was a drinker, a fighter and a womaniser, and a genuine rogue to a certain degree. But he was born to be a soldier."

Yesterday, the Record told how a group of Scots Army veterans are fighting for the right to wear a medal they earned by taking on rebels in Borneo in the 60s. Today, we reveal the extraordinary heroism of one of their number.

Colonel Ian Crooke was a second lieutenant in the King's Own Scottish Borderers at the time of the Borneo campaign. He went on to become a legend in the SAS and an inspiration to Scots troops to this day.

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

The nation watched in 1980 as masked SAS troops blasted their way into the Iranian embassy in London.

No operation did more to establish the regiment's reputation as the world's finest fighting force.

Colonel Ian Crooke was a key figure in the planning of the embassy assault.

Before the siege, he led an elite unit hunting terrorists like Dessie O'Hare in Northern Ireland. And afterwards, he personally restored the government of Sir Dawda Jawarra in The Gambia.

DAY HE SET PRINCESS DIANA'S HAIR ON FIRE

CROOKE was in charge of a major SAS training exercise which featured Prince Charles and Princess Diana as special guests.

And the day nearly ended in disaster when a flash bomb set Di's hair alight.

Charles and Di joined in the anti-terrorist exercise when they visited SAS headquarters at Hereford.

A group of "terrorists", played by SAS troops, had seized a mock embassy, and the royal couple joined the units sent to storm the building.

Charles flew one of the helicopters carrying troops into the attack, while his wife joined another assault unit on the ground.

Clive Fairweather recalled: "Diana was dressed up in SAS black kit and driving a Range Rover with one of the ground assault parties.

"She was told, 'On no account get out of the vehicle.' But she did, and a flash-bang hit her, singeing her hair and covering her in flames, sparks and smoke. "One of the SAS men with her beat out the flames."

Diana had to have her hair cut short after the incident. And next day, the Press was full of the princess's new look. Fairweather said: "Diana's daring new hairdo covered front pages worldwide".

"Ian Crooke was in charge of the whole operation and she and Charles loved it."

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