A senior Army officer has become the first soldier to be stripped of his Military Cross, after it was revealed he had exaggerated his heroism.
Major Robert Michael Armstrong was given the prestigious medal in March 2009 for his leadership under fire in Afghanistan.
He was praised for saving the lives of his injured comrades while dodging bullets and inspiring Afghan troops to fire rockets at the enemy.
But he was detained later that year as part of a probe into allegations of false battle write ups and now the London Gazette has announced the medal will be "cancelled and annulled".
In 2008, Armstrong, 41, was a Royal Artillery officer attached to the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment battle group in Helmand when a British and Afghan convoy came under Taliban attack.
Armstrong's citation praised his "swift, instinctive actions, personal courage and disregard for his own life", adding: "As a result of his calm leadership under fire losses were prevented and the lives of those injured were saved."
He was awarded the Military Cross the following year "for his consistent bravery and inspirational leadership".
But fellow soldiers disputed the claims, with two corporals claiming there was no hostile fire by the Taliban when a vehicle in the convoy was blown up and the Sunday Telegraph reported one officer was aggrieved that actions attributed to Armstrong were actually those performed by other officers.
The commander of Britain's 16 Air Assault Brigade, Brigadier Giles Hill, was ordered to carry out a review into the citation.
It is understood that he found significant disparities between what Armstrong claimed happened and what actually occurred and that the citation contained a number of falsehoods.
When a soldier performs an act on operations worthy of a medal, the highest-ranked officer present will normally write a citation, speaking to those present and even speak to the subject without letting them know the reason for the conversation.
Armstrong's lawyers said he had had "no role in corroborating events referred to in the citation" and said there were "shortcomings and irregularities" in the process used by senior officers.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The MoD can confirm that an investigation has concluded into the circumstances surrounding the award of a gallantry medal relating to an incident in Afghanistan."
Armstrong was dismissed from the Army two years ago after hundreds of rounds of ammunition and secret documents were found in his home.
A judge at Colchester military court had said Armstrong had demonstrated a "cavalier attitude" to handling the ammunition and that the documents could have resulted in loss of life if they had been published.
Armstrong was sentenced to 12 months in prison for those offences but this was suspended for two years.
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