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Last Updated: Sunday, 22 April 2007, 10:42 GMT 11:42 UK
Navy rejects criticism of captive
Arthur Batchelor
The club's owner admitted the pictures were controversial
The Royal Navy is playing down reports that freed Iranian hostage Arthur Batchelor from Plymouth has been making light of his experiences.
Operator Maintainer Batchelor, 20, is pictured by newspapers in a city nightclub wearing a blindfold with an imaginary gun held to his head.
He is on leave after being released along with 14 others from his Plymouth-based ship HMS Cornwall.
OM Batchelor spent two weeks in captivity before being returned home.
The pictures, put on the club's website and shown in a number of Sunday tabloids, show him in Jesters nightclub in Union Street.
He is shown apparently laughing in a blindfold as a friend points pistol-shaped fingers to his head.
In another picture his head is being held back by a toy rifle.
The Mail on Sunday calls him the "hostage who learned nothing from his ordeal" and says: "Torture? It's all a laugh now for Mr Bean".
'Funny side'
The News of the World condemns his antics as a "shameful" insult to his comrades fighting in Iraq.
A Navy spokesperson told BBC News: "Arthur Batchelor has been through a very traumatic experience and is just letting his hair down.
Arthur Batchelor
Arthur Batchelor sold his story amid a storm over payments
"This was in his own time and we do not police navy personnel in their own time.
"We can't comment on what he might or might not do in his own private hours."
OM Batchelor sold his story to the press amid a furore over the payments.
He said afterwards that he was concerned that he had disappointed his colleagues in the Royal Navy.
Jesters owner Stephen Locke said: "Those snaps are a bit contentious in this day and age.
"Hopefully everyone will see the funny side although they are slightly controversial."
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Navy rejects criticism of captive
Navy rejects criticism of captive
Arthur Batchelor
The club's owner admitted the pictures were controversial
The Royal Navy is playing down reports that freed Iranian hostage Arthur Batchelor from Plymouth has been making light of his experiences.
Operator Maintainer Batchelor, 20, is pictured by newspapers in a city nightclub wearing a blindfold with an imaginary gun held to his head.
He is on leave after being released along with 14 others from his Plymouth-based ship HMS Cornwall.
OM Batchelor spent two weeks in captivity before being returned home.
The pictures, put on the club's website and shown in a number of Sunday tabloids, show him in Jesters nightclub in Union Street.
He is shown apparently laughing in a blindfold as a friend points pistol-shaped fingers to his head.
In another picture his head is being held back by a toy rifle.
The Mail on Sunday calls him the "hostage who learned nothing from his ordeal" and says: "Torture? It's all a laugh now for Mr Bean".
'Funny side'
The News of the World condemns his antics as a "shameful" insult to his comrades fighting in Iraq.
A Navy spokesperson told BBC News: "Arthur Batchelor has been through a very traumatic experience and is just letting his hair down.
Arthur Batchelor
Arthur Batchelor sold his story amid a storm over payments
"This was in his own time and we do not police navy personnel in their own time.
"We can't comment on what he might or might not do in his own private hours."
OM Batchelor sold his story to the press amid a furore over the payments.
He said afterwards that he was concerned that he had disappointed his colleagues in the Royal Navy.
Jesters owner Stephen Locke said: "Those snaps are a bit contentious in this day and age.
"Hopefully everyone will see the funny side although they are slightly controversial."
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Navy rejects criticism of captive
One is that the Iran episode has brought out the funnier side of his ordeal and he is having a ball over it, especially since he is still a young boy and has hardly seen the grimmer/ serious side of military life!
Or, he has been unhinged by the ordeal wherein he is reaping the best that publicity can bring to his otherwise drab life, like reaping a windfall in cash by selling his "story" or playing the clown at the nightclub, aptly named "Jester".
The Iran episode has a huge political ramification. It would not be wrong to believe that there would have surely been quite a flurry of behind the scenes bartering and things like that. Therefore, these captives should have been de-briefed properly on how to handle themselves.
However, what has happened, has happened.
Just too bad a person with a penchant to play a clown or maybe, to be fair, a high sense of humour for the ridiculous, had to be amongst the captives.
It does reduce the significance of the ordeal that others are facing in Iraq!
