A gagging order that prevented the identification of British soldiers accused of trading in stolen weapons and cocaine was overturned yesterday after The Times won a legal battle.

The soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, are due to stand trial at a series of courts martial beginning next month.

They stand accused of 19 offences involving the sale of battlefield weapons smuggled out of Iraq and sold to criminals in Germany for cash and drugs.

At a preparatory hearing at the Military Court Centre in Colchester, Judge Advocate Colin Burn overturned an interim order that he made this month.

“The overarching principle of open justice should prevail,” he said. Eight soldiers whose identity can now be disclosed are: Lance Corporal Michael White, Lance Corporal Anthony Creswick, Corporal Darren Clemmie, Lance Corporal Ross Phillips, Lance Corporal Ben Whitfield, Lance Corporal Brent Campbell, Private Shane Pleasant and Private Robert Marlow.

A ninth soldier, a sergeant, still cannot be identified, the judge ruled, until a Ministry of Defence inquiry into threats to his personal security and that of his family has been concluded. The judge upheld a previous ruling that reporting restrictions should be imposed on the publication of the private addresses of the soldiers.

The initial order prohibiting the naming of the men prompted a furious reaction. Media lawyers said that it was not justified on the grounds of security or risk to the soldiers, or because publicity might prejudice their trial.

Times Newspapers began a legal battle to set aside the original order at the head of a group that included Mirror Group Newspapers, The Guardian, the BBC, ITN, Sky and the Press Association. Anthony Hudson, counsel for the group, told the hearing: “There is a significant and legitimate public interest in the allegations against the nine accused. The public are entitled to know that serving members of the British Army are accused of smuggling weapons out of Iraq, selling those weapons to criminals in Germany for cash and drugs and possessing and supplying cocaine.

“There is an equally significant and legitimate public interest in knowing the identity of those accused of such serious criminal offences. It is submitted that the usual and fundamental principle of open justice applies to these accused as it would if they were being tried in a Crown Court.

“Further, there is no proper basis for departing from that fundamental principle. The mere fact that a defendant in criminal proceedings has served or may, in the future, serve in Iraq does not entitle that defendant to anonymity when standing trial for serious criminal offences.”

The media were not given advance notice of the defence application for a reporting restrictions order at the hearing in Catterick on November 6. Charges against the soldiers, who served in Iraq last year, were announced by the Army Prosecuting Authority last month.

The men were then with the Duke of Wellington’s regiment, which was amalgamated into The Yorkshire Regiment, which was formed in June. The armoured infantry unit is based in Warminster, Wiltshire.

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