The BBC's Frank Gardner says the militants had already admitted Mr McMenemy was dead

The British Embassy in Baghdad has confirmed that a body handed over to them is that of Alan McMenemy, who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2007.

Mr McMenemy, a security guard from Glasgow, was snatched along with three other guards and an IT expert.

The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, Jason Creswell and Alec MacLachlan were returned in 2009. Peter Moore was released alive in 2010.

Mr McMenemy's widow said his family would be comforted by having him home.

'Draw comfort'

Roseleen McMenemy said: "Our families have suffered terrible uncertainty and distress over the past four years and eight months.

"We have worried about Alan every single minute of each waking day.

"We now know that we will shortly have Alan home again, this will allow us to properly grieve for him and we will draw some comfort from the fact that we have him home at last."

The men were snatched by militants posing as police at the Iraqi finance ministry in May 2007.

The four dead men were acting as bodyguards for Mr Moore.

He was freed on 30 December 2009, 946 days after he was kidnapped.

'Family ordeal'

In a statement Prime Minister David Cameron said: "My thoughts are with Alan's family and friends at this time.

"They have waited so long for his return and I hope that this will allow them to find some peace after an ordeal that no family should ever have to suffer."

An inquest into the deaths of Mr McMenemy's colleagues heard that on 29 May 2007, the security guards - who were armed with automatic rifles and pistols - collected Mr Moore and a fellow IT consultant, Peter Donkin, believed to be American, from their accommodation in the green zone of Baghdad.

The hearing, at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in June last year, heard that they escorted the pair to the finance ministry where they were helping to install a new financial IT system.

At about 11:40 local time between 50 and 100 armed men, dressed in police and military uniforms, converged on the building and took the six men, the inquest heard.

Mr Cameron added that the relatives of British charity worker Margaret Hassan and engineer Ken Bigley were still waiting for the return of their bodies.

Ms Hassan was abducted and shot dead in Baghdad in 2004, while Mr Bigley was beheaded the same year.