There was a terrible human cost for the UK's involvement in Iraq.

In Carlisle, nobody has learned that lesson more painfully than the widow of part-time soldier Peter Mahoney, who took his own life in 2004, the year after he completed a tour of duty in Iraq.

A father-of-four, the 45-year-old spent six months in Iraq.

Speaking after the release of the Chilcot Report, his widow Donna, 53, said: “Peter was in Iraq when the war started.

“He went there in January 2003, and came home in July.

“At first, I didn't realise at first how deeply he was affected. But when he came back his personality had changed.

“I believe he was suffering from post traumatic stress.”

Since Peter's death, Donna, from Currock, has learned of some of the horrific things that he witnessed while there.

She said: “There was a young girl and the soldiers Peter was with gave her some chocolate. “There were three soldiers.

“One has since told me that when they came back to that place, after half an hour, the girl had been hanged – because she'd accepted a gift from the soldiers. “They saw that.

“We knew what this report was going to say; we knew that it was a war based on lies, and that Tony Blair had said to Bush the year before that he was going to war, so it was already planned.

“I feel Peter died in vain.

“This brings it all back. It's been horrendous. I feel abandoned – except for the Royal British Legion and the Gulf War Veterans' Association.”

For some serving soldiers, the Chilcot report has to be viewed with a necessary professional detachment.

Luke Reeson is a 28-year-old Duke of Lancaster Regiment corporal, who served in Iraq,took four bullets while serving in Afghanistan.

Recalling his four months in Iraq in 2008, he said: “We had a job to do that needed doing.

“We worked with the country's armed forces and police forces.

“Our role was to give them training to be better prepared for the jobs they were doing, and I feel we made a difference.”

Cockermouth based Luke, a talented swimmer, came to public prominence after he triumphed at Prince Harry’s Invictus Games - winning two gold and two silver medals. As for the politics, said Luke, he was happy to leave that to the politicians.