THE widow of a British film-maker who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier has accused the authorities of trying to crush her struggle to bring his killer to justice.

James Miller, 34, was making a film in May 2003 about Palestinian children in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza when he was shot in the neck. The film, Death in Gaza, was the first documentary to win three Emmys, the coveted American television awards.

The soldier was named by Mr Miller’s widow at an inquest yesterday into his death as First Lieutenant Haib, of the Bedouin Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. In an emotional attack, Sophy Miller, 35, said that the Israeli authorities had delayed the investigation into her husband’s death to try to “grind down” the family.

It was also alleged that the family was put under pressure by Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff in Jerusalem to accept the Israeli post-mortem examination being carried out without an independent observer being present.

A jury was told that Mr Miller, a father of two, was holding a white flag lit up by a torch when he was shot. Mrs Miller said: “We were given assurance by the Israeli authorities and our Government that this was being fully investigated, and yet all the while it has been the family that has had to produce, investigate and provide the evidence in order to bring any form of justice, and to date he hasn’t received any.

“It would have been much easier for them if we had found it too difficult and they have given the impression that they were just trying to grind us down in the hope that we couldn’t go on.”

Mrs Miller, from Braunton, Devon, who has undertaken three trips to Israel, said that the Israeli Defence Force had given misleading information from the moment her husband was shot. She said that Lieutenant Haib had given six testimonies, all of which were conflicting. But despite advice from the Israeli Advocate General that he be disciplined for breaching the rules of engagement, illegal use of weapons and misconduct during the investigation, he was acquitted by Brigadier-General Guy Tzur, the head of the army’s southern command.

The inquest in London was shown part of the film, which included footage by another cameraman who captured the moment when Mr Miller was killed.

Mr Miller’s sister, Anne Waddington, a barrister, told the hearing: “There was a military police investigation which was, quite frankly, prejudiced from the outset.”

The hearing continues.

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