Brit soldier’s battle to keep Saddam Hussein’s left bum cheek after nabbing it during fall of Baghdad
London-born Nigel Ely was accused of stealing the war booty after he tried to flog the lump of bronze to raise cash for charity
A BRAVE former soldier is fighting to keep hold of Saddam Hussein’s BOTTOM.
Veteran Nigel “Spud” Ely, 58, was in Iraq when the statue of the mass murdering dictator was pulled down in 2003 during the "Fall of Baghdad."
London-born Nigel, who fought in the Falklands war, managed to smash off the bronze left cheek of the monument using a crowbar.
But the 58-year-old, who was escorting news reporters through the war-torn country at the time, was arrested in 2012 after he tried to flog the war booty for charity.
The stunned hero was detained on suspicion of breaching the 2003 Iraq Sanctions Order, which governs the importation of "Iraqi cultural property".
Detectives claimed Nigel had illegally imported the two-ft lump of bronze into the UK after he claimed it was military vehicle armour.
Nigel, who obtained the buxom artefact on April 9, 2003, said: “All I wanted to do was raise money for the wounded with Saddam’s arse.”
Speaking about the moment, he grabbed Saddam’s brass buttock, he said: “There I was, with the war at full rage, belting the hell out of Saddam’s bottom. It was crazy.”
After sitting in his shed for years, a pal suggested he sell the dictator’s rump to raise money for army charities in 2013.
But once bidding reached a staggering £23,000, cops stopped the auction.
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However, when a crack team of investigators raided Nigel’s home, they came up empty handed because he had hidden the booty in a field nearby.
After an exhaustive £93,000 legal fight to keep his hands on the controversial bum, the case collapsed.
Nigel has since written an acclaimed book Bring Me The Arse Of Saddam.
And until the matter is settled with Iraqi officials, he says: “Saddam’s bum is on the run.”
Despot Saddam, who was President of Iraq from 1979 until 2003, was executed by hanging on December 30, 2006.
The dictator was toppled shortly after the United States and coalition forces, including Great Britain, invaded Iraq in March 2003.
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