THE grandfather of a soldier killed in Iraq says he fears the true story behind the war will never come out after witnessing Tony Blair give evidence at the Chilcot Inquiry.

David Godfrey, 64, from Cullompton, was one of 40 family members of fallen servicemen granted special access to hear Mr Blair give evidence.

He spent the three hours of the morning session sitting just behind Mr Blair as the former Prime Minister defended his decision to go to war. He then watched the afternoon's evidence on a big screen in a room specially reserved for family members.

Mr Godfrey, who has been an outspoken critic of the conflict since his grandson, Daniel Coffey, 21, died in Basra in 2007, said he had hoped for a bit of truth and justice for the families.

But after witnessing evidence being given by what he described as a "nervous but well-rehearsed" Mr Blair, he says he fears this may never be the case.

He said: "My main big hope is that families will find some peace and some truth and justice but that remains to be seen.

"To my mind Mr Blair's body language has been saying quite a lot and he has done a lot of gesturing. At times he looked like he felt nervous but it was clear he has been well rehearsed with his answers.

"To be honest I cannot fathom the man and he has been quite glib about it. I just wish I could read his mind."

After winning his place in a ballot earlier this month, Mr Godfrey arrived at the London venue last Friday and was in his seat long before Mr Blair entered the room.

He said: "I never got to see his face or look him in the eye. He came in through a door on the left and his eyes were looking straight ahead and down.

"At this point I was experiencing all kinds of emotions and it was only through the respect and honour for the servicemen and their families that I was able to keep quiet.

"There was no disruption in the room although there was a lot of protesting outside. The audience was very respectful and everyone sat in a sombre and reflective mood. Reacting any other way would not have been the right thing to do out of respect for the inquiry."

Mr Godfrey said: "It has given me a chance to hear the explanation from himself, rather than just read about it and see it on the television and I owed it to Daniel to be here."