The admission comes after the BBC revealed last week that the UKSF officer – who previously served in Afghanistan - rejected applications from Afghans who may have witnessed the alleged crimes.

Afghan commandos, known as the Triples, supported the SAS and SBS for years in Afghanistan and were in danger of reprisal after the Taliban seized back the country in 2021.

But thousands of UK resettlement applications containing credible links to the Triples were rejected.