THE Sun newspaper has claimed today to have obtained a secret tape from a US jet which killed British soldier Matty Hull in a "friendly fire" incident in Iraq.

The revelation comes less than a week after Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker said he "had no choice" but to delay his verdict until a recording of the incident was produced by the Government.

Mr Walker said the failure of the Ministry of Defence to get authorisation to show the recording - believed to be of two American planes firing on a convoy of British armoured vehicles - was a "matter of profound regret" that "greatly saddened" him.

Lance Corporal Hull, 25, of Windsor, died in the incident, near Basra in southern Iraq on March 28, 2003.

Four other members of his Household Cavalry troop, were injured.