Former Foreign Office minister Peter Hain has said he backs air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq despite feeling "deeply allergic" to more Middle Eastern interventions.

It came as MPs backed UK involvement in the attacks by 524 votes to 43.
Newport West MP Paul Flynn said the motion on military action was "the thin end of a bloody and ugly wedge".
He was one of five Welsh MPs, three Labour and two Plaid Cymru, to vote against UK airstrikes on Islamic State.
MPs were recalled to Parliament to discuss whether Britain should take part in military action.
Mr Hain, MP for Neath, voted in favour of the motion but told the Commons in his speech beforehand that he had been wrong to back the 2003 invasion of Iraq over weapons of mass destruction.
"We went to war on a lie and the aftermath was disastrous," he said.
Plaid Cymru's Arfon MP, Hywel Williams, opposed the motion, warning MPs that air strikes would kill civilians and "radicalise" the young.
"It is disturbing that the prime minister has said that we must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for inaction," he said.
"The shadow of the Iraq war still looms large - surely we should be learning from history, not forgetting it."
Cynon Valley Labour MP Ann Clwyd, a former special envoy on human rights in Iraq, said she supported the motion but did not think that air strikes would be enough to crush the militants.
"The Iraqi army are apparently not ready to do this, are not properly trained to do this, and you can't depend on the Peshmerga... a small group of soldiers who have been defending their own homeland," she said.
"They can't possibly be responsible for defending the whole of Iraq - that is just pie in the sky."
Mr Flynn was one of the strongest Welsh voices against intervention.
He said: "This motion is the thin end of a bloody and ugly wedge that will grow and expand and mission creep into a prolonged war with unforeseeable consequences.
"We're falling into vortex of hatreds in the Middle East that are ancient and deep and once we start this process, it will be almost impossible in the future to extricate ourselves from it."
His Labour colleagues, Gower MP Martin Caton and Swansea East MP Sian James, also voted against the motion as did Plaid's Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards and Hywel Williams.
Prime Minister David Cameron opened the debate on Friday saying the UK had a "duty" to confront the threat from Islamic State, and that joining the US-led air strikes would be "clearly lawful".
After a seven-hour debate, MPs voted for military action with a majority of 481. The BBC live page on the debate is now closed.


Afghanistan still does not have a full government a year after the presidential election.

On 5 April 2014 voters went to the polls in a carnival atmosphere, despite heavy rain. But more than two-thirds of cabinet posts are still unfilled.
The decision by President Ghani to suspend all provincial governors and police chiefs has led to the further stagnation of government across the country.
The reformist governor of Nangarhar province in the east has resigned from the post because he was left without the power he needed to do his job.
Nangarhar is in a crucial location, both in terms of security as well as revenue-raising, as it is the gateway to Afghanistan from the Khyber Pass in the east.
Its provincial capital, Jalalabad, has been facing increasing attacks from the Taliban and other insurgents in recent months.
At a public meeting, a number of elders signed a letter urging the governor, Mullah Ata Ullah Ludin, not to stand down. One said that he was the only person taking on the "criminal mafia".
Mr Ludin's departure leaves this important province leaderless. He finally insisted he had to step down because he could not make the decisions he wanted.
His "acting" status meant he was prevented from appointing new teachers, and an order he gave to close a border weighing station was overturned.
He had made the decision because trucks were constantly leaving far heavier than had been weighed - and must have paid a bribe for the difference.
Apart from the lost revenues, the heavy trucks were damaging the region's roads.  He said that if the situation of acting governors and police chiefs was not resolved soon, then the country would "slide towards instability; people will lose faith in the government and corruption will increase".
It's the same story in the province of Herat, the gateway to Iran, at the western end of Afghanistan's most important trade route.
Stagnation here following the suspension from office of most senior officials has provoked the former governor Ismail Khan to actively campaign against President Ghani's government.
Khan was a prominent commander in the jihadi war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. He and other ex-jihadi commanders say they are locked out of government, and are a formidable opposition to the technocratic moderniser who is now president.
But President Ghani is also losing support among those who previously backed him.
MPs like Helai Ershad say that far from establishing a reformist government, he has had to make alliances with men she described as "a bunch of mujahidin".
She said that the problems began when the international community persuaded Ghani to share power with Abdullah Abdullah, the opponent he narrowly defeated in a contested election.
Since both men have two deputies, there are six separate powerbases to satisfy in making appointments.
"Two different mentalities, how can they work under the same umbrella?," she asked.
Since there are no political parties in Afghanistan, a country where patronage is the main driver of power, the jockeying for position has gone on.
Ms Ershad believes that only 10 of the more than 20 ministers still to be confirmed by parliament will be approved this time round.
And the issue of appointing substantive provincial governors and police chiefs has still to be addressed.


Egypt has delayed a UN vote on a text condemning Israeli settlements in occupied territory after Israel asked Donald Trump to intervene.

Israel contacted the US president-elect's transition team after learning that the Obama administration might abstain in a Security Council vote.
The move would have allowed the motion to pass, a US official told the BBC.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi discussed the issue in a phone call with Mr Trump, Mr Sisi's office said.
In a statement, it said the two men had agreed on "the importance of giving a chance for the new American administration to deal in a comprehensive way with the different aspects of the Palestinian issue".
The resolution submitted by Egypt called for Israel to stop settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which it said breached international law.
It was to have been put to a vote on Thursday, but Egypt withdrew it hours before the meeting was due to start.
Israel's ambassador the US Ron Dermer expressed gratitude to Mr Trump, tweeting "Israel deeply appreciates the clear and unequivocal call of President-elect @realDonaldTrump to veto anti-Israel resolution at the UN."
The US, which holds the power of veto as a permanent member of the Security Council, has traditionally sheltered Israel from condemnatory resolutions by voting them down.
The Obama administration has long made clear its opposition to Israeli settlement building and there had been speculation that in its final month it might allow a resolution against settlements to pass at the UN.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump, who takes over as president on 20 January, had urged the Security Council to defeat the motion.
"Peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations," he said in a statement.
"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis."
After the postponement of the vote, an Israeli official told Reuters news agency that it had warned the Obama administration in advance that it would appeal to the president-elect if the US abstained, and confirmed that it had directly asked Mr Trump to intervene.
However, four other members of the Security Council warned that if Egypt did not press ahead with its resolution, other member states would do so.
New Zealand, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Senegal said they reserved the right to move ahead with the vote.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious between Israel and the Palestinians, who see them as an obstacle to peace.
About 500,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.


Ten years of free prescriptions for all in Wales is a "long-term investment" in people's health, a minister has said.

Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said since April 2007 it had kept people out of hospital and cut overall NHS costs.
The Welsh Government said the £593m cost of free prescriptions in 2015 was only £3m more than the bill in 2007.
Conservative spokeswoman Angela Burns said the cost was still too high, saying people should pay for their medicine if they could afford to.
Prescription charges were the same across the UK until 2001, when they were frozen at £6 in Wales by the then Labour-Lib Dem administration in Cardiff Bay.
Welsh ministers also made prescriptions free for all aged under 25.
They were already free for children, pensioners, people on benefits and pregnant women - accounting for about 90% of the total.
The charge was subsequently cut before being abolished altogether in 2007.
Northern Ireland followed suit in 2010, and Scotland in 2011.
Mr Gething said free prescriptions were "progressive and an integral part of our health services in Wales".
"It should never be the case that people with serious chronic conditions can not afford to collect their prescription," he said.
"Ensuring patients have the medication they need not only improves their own health and wellbeing, it also benefits the health service as a whole by reducing hospital attendance and placing fewer demands on general practitioners."
For the Welsh Conservatives, Ms Burns claimed the cost of free prescriptions had soared by 45% since the idea of dropping all charges was proposed in 2000.
She said the NHS should not be "treated like a buffet cart", calling for a "more just and affordable model".
"It cannot be right that £5.1m was last year spent on paracetamol alone - which can be bought for mere pennies in supermarkets - while some patients were denied potentially life-saving cancer medication on the basis of cost," Ms Burns said.
"People who can afford to pay for their medicine should pay, while those who cannot afford to pay, or live with long-term chronic conditions, should still be able to benefit from free medicine."
Plaid Cymru AM Dr Dai Lloyd said his party supported free prescriptions for all, saying the policy "frees up NHS resources away from the bureaucracy required to administer a means-tested system as in England".
"The fact that Northern Ireland and Scotland have also introduced free prescriptions following Wales demonstrates this has been a successful policy," he added.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats said they "remain committed to free prescription charges as part of a package of ways used to tackle the significant health inequalities we face".
In England, prescription charges rose on Saturday from £8.40 to £8.60.
However, the Department of Health said that due to the range of exemptions, 90% of prescriptions were dispensed free of charge.


Cardiff City's FA Cup third round tie against Shrewsbury Town has been moved to Sunday, 10 January (18:00 GMT).

The match at Cardiff City Stadium will be shown live on Welsh language channel S4C, with commentary also on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru.
On the same day at 12:00 GMT, BBC Wales will broadcast live coverage of Swansea City's game at Oxford United.
Shrewsbury secured their place in the third round by beating Grimsby 1-0 at home in a replay on Tuesday.
Abu Ogogo scored an injury-time winner as the League One side struggled to overcome their National League opponents.
Cardiff last met Shrewsbury in a Division Three match in 2001, which the Bluebirds won 3-1 with two goals from Scott Young and one from Rob Earnshaw.
This will be the first FA Cup meeting between the two sides.


Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the SNP have a "chilling" plan for a second referendum on independence.

Campaigning in Renfrewshire, he said the nationalists want an SNP vote in the general election in order to "force" a second poll.
Launching the SNP's "women's pledge", Nicola Sturgeon said this election was "not about independence".
Meanwhile the Lib Dems set out plans for green laws and the Scottish Conservatives focused on jobs.
As the penultimate weekend of campaigning got under way, SNP leader Ms Sturgeon joined female activists and actor and campaigner Elaine C Smith in Glasgow to launch the party's women's pledge, which commits the SNP and its members to delivering policies that promote equality.
Ms Sturgeon said: "SNP MPs at Westminster will stand up for gender equality at every turn. We will work for an end to austerity, for equal pay, more and better jobs and to end the barriers that still block the aspirations of too many women in Scotland and across the UK."
As part of its women's pledge, the SNP said it would:
One the issue of Scottish independence, the first minister said it was not on the agenda during this campaign.
She said: "People can vote SNP knowing that that won't be taken by me, or by the SNP, as a mandate for independence or for a referendum.
"I think the leaders of the Westminster parties really need a basic lesson in democracy. It's up to people in Scotland to decide how we want to make our voice heard."
Speaking at Elderslie Village Hall in Renfrewshire, Mr Brown said the SNP wanted to win seats in the House of Commons "not to deliver social justice" but to "deliver" chaos and constant crisis".
He referred to a video posted on YouTube last month, understood to have been filmed in November last year, featuring SNP candidate Mhairi Black.
He said: "There is an SNP candidate in this constituency. She says vote SNP, get SNP MPs at Westminster and we will twist their arms and get another referendum.
"Remember what the SNP used to say - the referendum was once in a generation, then it changed a little to once in a lifetime, then it was once every 15 years and now when you ask Ms Sturgeon about this her answers are all evasion. She cannot give a straight answer to the question."
Responding to Mr Brown's comments, an SNP spokesman said Ms Black had been making the point that "if the people of Scotland do in the future decide there should be another referendum the Westminster establishment must not stand in their way."
During his speech, Mr Brown also insisted that you don't have to be a nationalist to be a patriot.
He said "proud, patriotic Scots desperate for change" would only be satisfied by a Labour government.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie highlighted the party's green record as he took part in the annual Pedal on Parliament rally in Edinburgh.
Mr Rennie made the journey into Edinburgh from his home in Fife with a group of local cyclists, and joined Lib Dem activists and thousands of other cyclists in the Meadows ahead of an appearance at the rally.
He set out his party's plans to introduce five green laws to put the environment at the heart of government policy.
He said: "Liberal Democrats are the only party to have nailed their green credentials to the mast, and set out how our radical agenda will be delivered in a way that is both credible and affordable."
"Protecting the environment is in the Lib Dem's DNA, and having five green laws on the front page of our manifesto shows our intent.
"From day one of the next Parliament we will have our green commitments on the table, from cleaning up the air we breathe, to greening the energy and transport we use. These are Liberal Democrats commitments because they build a fairer society."
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson visited a falconry centre in Fife and a street stall in Stirling.
Speaking to shoppers, Ms Davidson talked up her party's plans to keep pushing ahead with "Britain's jobs miracle".
She said employment had increased by 178,000 since the Conservatives came to office.
On the issue of a second independence referendum, Ms Davidson said: "A vote for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party is a vote to keep Scotland in the UK.
"We will do no deals with the SNP because we believe that Scotland has had its say in the referendum and that should be it for a generation, same way that we were promised."
A full list of all the candidates standing in Paisley and Renfrewshire South is available here.
What are the top issues for each political party at the 2015 general election?
Policy guide: Where the parties stand


Burnley are two wins from promotion after moving back to the top of the Championship with victory over local rivals Preston at Deepdale.

Joey Barton's deflected free-kick wrong-footed North End keeper Chris Kirkland to give Burnley an early lead.
Andre Gray and George Boyd almost added a second goal after the break but both hit the woodwork in quick succession.
Jermaine Beckford nodded Preston's best chance over as the Clarets, backed by 5,630 fans, made it 21 games unbeaten.
Burnley have not lost in the Championship since a 3-0 defeat at Hull on Boxing Day, but the fine form of Middlesbrough and Brighton has ensured the battle for promotion will go to the wire.
However, with second-placed Boro playing third-placed Brighton at the Riverside on the final day, Sean Dyche's side will go up with two more wins.
The Clarets, relegated from the Premier League last season, host Queens Park Rangers on 2 May, followed by a trip to Charlton five days later.
And the signs they will make an immediate return to the top flight look good as they head into the matches on the back of their longest unbeaten run since November 1972.
Defeat for Preston, who were in with an outside chance of a play-off place at the start of April, means Simon Grayson's men are now winless in five.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche:
"It's how I want the team to play - that's almost an advert for it. I used the word clarity a lot and I thought that was on show.
"We talk about automaticity and that's the ability to do it properly all the time.
"We do it in training so when it's a game we can deliver and we're showing good signs."
Preston North End boss Simon Grayson:
"We've got honest lads who will give everything. When you look at Burnley and their recovery runs, they get back into their shape.
"It's a learning curve and something to look at for future seasons."
Match ends, Preston North End 0, Burnley 1.
Second Half ends, Preston North End 0, Burnley 1.
Callum Robinson (Preston North End) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Callum Robinson (Preston North End).
Joey Barton (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Callum Robinson (Preston North End) right footed shot from the centre of the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Calum Woods following a set piece situation.
Hand ball by Sam Vokes (Burnley).
Attempt blocked. Calum Woods (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Paul Gallagher (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Burnley. David Jones replaces Dean Marney.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Dean Marney (Burnley) because of an injury.
Greg Cunningham (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Joey Barton (Burnley).
Foul by Greg Cunningham (Preston North End).
George Boyd (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Preston North End. Callum Robinson replaces Alan Browne.
Greg Cunningham (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ashley Barnes (Burnley).
Ben Mee (Burnley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Jermaine Beckford (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ben Mee (Burnley).
Joey Barton (Burnley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Alan Browne (Preston North End) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Joey Barton (Burnley).
Substitution, Burnley. Ashley Barnes replaces Andre Gray.
Foul by Jermaine Beckford (Preston North End).
Ben Mee (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Scott Arfield (Burnley) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Joey Barton.
Attempt blocked. Paul Gallagher (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Alan Browne.
Bailey Wright (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Sam Vokes (Burnley).
Substitution, Preston North End. Jordan Hugill replaces Joe Garner.
Foul by Tom Clarke (Preston North End).
Joey Barton (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Andre Gray (Burnley) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Greg Cunningham (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Andre Gray (Burnley).
Attempt blocked. Alan Browne (Preston North End) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Attempt missed. Jermaine Beckford (Preston North End) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Greg Cunningham with a cross.


Colin Turkington secured a first British Touring Car Championship victory for Subaru by winning Sunday's opening race at Oulton Park.

The two-time champion from Portadown finished over two seconds clear from Sam Tordoff at the English circuit.
Turkington was edged into second by Tordoff in race two but could only manage seventh in the final race.
Tordoff leads the 2016 series after four rounds with Turkington back in 11th on 75 points.


A "violent and volatile prison population" in Wales is being fuelled by better access to so-called legal highs, a union has said.

Ambulance call-outs to prisoners have doubled in four years.
And the Prison Officers' Association blame psychoactive substance use for the rise.
The Ministry of Justice said it was committed to making prisons "places of safety and reform".
Figures were obtained for Cardiff, Swansea, Parc in Bridgend and Usk prisons by BBC Radio Cymru's Post Cyntaf programme.
They showed ambulance call-outs doubled from 202 in 2012-13 to 406 in 2015-16.
Between 1 April - 31 December last year, there were 281 callouts.
The union's Glyn Travis described a type called spice leading to more cases of self-harm, suicide and prisoners being found unresponsive in their cells.
"A prison population is like any community, you've got young, old... you've got people who are dependent on medication, who are dependent on drugs," he said.
"But what we're seeing is that we're getting a more violent and volatile prison population.
"We believe that one of the underlying causes of that is the accessibility of what people call legal highs."
One of the new ways prisoners are getting access to drugs is people on the outside using drones.
"They hover above a cell window and a prisoner quite simply puts his hand out of the window and catches the package," said Mr Travis.
In 2016, the UK government made the substances illegal although they are still entering the prison system.
Mr Travis said the situation was being exacerbated by a reduction in the number of front line prison staff.
"I would say that prisons are in absolute turmoil - like the rush hour of the tube stations in London on a daily basis.
"You have prisoners milling around with very few staff to supervise them and disorder and ill-discipline can very quickly break out and come to a problem."
Paramedics told BBC Wales that incidents were also stretching their resources - with a callout taking far longer than one to somebody's home.
The Welsh Ambulance Service's Richard Lee said: "When we respond to patients in a prison there are security requirements which we comply with in order to enter or leave the scene which obviously take longer than entering a residential address."
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We have taken immediate action to stabilise the estate and help tackle the drugs, drones and phones that undermine security.
"We are also investing Â£100m annually to boost the frontline by 2,500 officers.
"These are long-standing issues that will not be resolved in weeks or months but our wholesale reforms will lay the groundwork to transform our prisons, reduce reoffending and make our communities safer."


Doncaster's League One relegation concerns increased as they were beaten by Scunthorpe to suffer a seventh defeat in eight games.

The home side took the lead when Tom Hopper swept in a shot following a left-wing cross from Conor Townsend.
Doncaster struggled to break down a solid home defence and went further behind when centre-back David Mirfin headed in a Jim O'Brien corner.
The defeat leaves Rovers two points above the relegation zone.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Scunthorpe manager Nick Daws told BBC Radio Humberside: "The performance, for a derby game, I thought was excellent from start to finish.
"We yet again showed our desire and determination to win a football match and today we've got our just rewards. We were excellent.


The Great British Bake Off is getting a spin-off show where professional pastry chefs compete to prepare the best desserts.

Bake Off: Creme de la Creme will be presented by Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge.
Fifteen teams of professional chefs will compete to produce the most impressive miniatures and showpiece desserts.
The eight-part series will be shown on BBC Two next year.
The chefs will work in teams of three and will come from famous hotels, top restaurants and patisseries, as well as the development kitchen of a leading supermarket, the armed forces and private clubs.
Their efforts will be judged by three of the industry's most influential pastry chefs - Benoit Blin from Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Cherish Finden from The Langham Hotel in London and Claire Clark who has twice been named Britain's best pastry chef.
The new show is being made by the same team who produce The Great British Bake Off.
Love Productions promised tension and drama as the chefs work together to show off their skills and creativity. The winner will be the team who displays "the precision of surgeons, the knowledge of chemists and the creativity of artists".


A black widow spider has been found in Aberdeen in a piece of pipe sent for testing from America.

Employees of Innospection at Kirkhill Industrial Estate in Dyce were said to be "shocked" at the discovery of the potentially deadly spider.
The Scottish SPCA was contacted, and an exotic animal rescue charity in Inverness offered the spider a home.
Animal Rescue Officer Karen Hogg said: "The callers waited until I arrived. Black widows are highly venomous."
She explained: "A bite would leave you feeling very unwell and, if suffering from an underlying medical condition, it could even prove fatal."
An Innospection spokesman told the BBC Scotland news website that staff had done the right thing.


Newport Gwent Dragons battled to a 22-7 victory over a brave 14-man Worcester side to keep their European Challenge Cup hopes alive.

The Warriors had flanker Sam Betty sent off for a punch after just 15 minutes.
Man of the match Tavis Knoyle, Tyler Morgan and Sam Hobbs crossed for the Welsh region with Angus O'Brien adding seven points.
Worcester's early opening try came from Connor Braid but they rarely threatened to repeat their dominance at Sixways.
The Dragons had to make four late changes in their squad because of illness, with international forwards T Rhys Thomas and Cory Hill among those dropping out, while the visitors had seven forwards on the bench.
Worcester struck inside two minutes as Canadian fly-half Braid was awarded the touchdown, converting it himself, following a kick and chase from halfway.
But Knoyle's corner scramble, converted by O'Brien, levelled the scores after a scorching break from Rhys Jones.
Betty's red card spurred the visitors on to the attack, with a sin-bin for home flanker Ollie Griffiths for collapsing a maul levelling the numbers temporarily.
O'Brien's 25th-minute penalty was the only other score of a scrappy first half to nudge the Dragons ahead 10-7.
The stalemate was broken as Wales centre Morgan cut through to score on 50 minutes, moments after coming on for a limping Jones.
Prop Hobbs then drove over from close quarters with O'Brien's conversion putting the Dragons three scores ahead at 22-7 going into the last quarter.
Adam Warren twice crossed the line before being recalled for knock-ons, while replacement Sarel Pretorius could not finish a late break as the clock passed 80 minutes.
It left the Dragons short of a bonus point despite their second-half dominance, but still second in the group on points difference.
Brive top the group after a bonus-point 38-18 win over Russian side Enisei-STM, putting the French club five points ahead of the Dragons and Enisei with two games to play.
Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones told BBC Wales Sport:
"We were disappointed at half-time but the second half performance was reasonable. Disappointed not to get that [bonus-point] try, Adam Warren did score but you've got to celebrate the wins.
"We've got to go the hard way [to the quarter-finals}, we still have to beat Enisei at home but we need to be in a position to go to Brive and have everything to play for."
Newport Gwent Dragons: Rhys Jones; Tom Prydie, Sam Beard, Adam Warren, Ashton Hewitt; Angus O'Brien, Tavis Knoyle; Sam Hobbs, Elliot Dee, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Rynard Landman, Nick Crosswell, Ollie Griffiths, Lewis Evans (capt).
Replacements: Rhys Buckley, Phil Price, Leon Brown, Joe Davies, Harrison Keddie, Sarel Pretorius, Tyler Morgan, James Benjamin.
Worcester Warriors: Josh Adams; Ben Howard, Max Stelling, Ryan Mills (capt), Dean Hammond; Connor Braid, George de Cothi; Ryan Bower, Jack Singleton, Mike Daniels, Will Spencer, Christian Scotland-Williamson, Sam Betty, Marco Mama, Matt Cox.
Replacements: Matti Williams, Derrick Appiah, Nick Schonert, Andrew Kitchener, Huw Taylor, Charlie Hewitt, Sam Ripper-Smith, Jamie Shillcock.
Referee: David Wilkinson Assistants: Kieran Barry, Oisin Quinn (all IRFU)


One of Britain's largest cigarette companies has labelled Ed Miliband's plans for a new tax on tobacco as "unjust and just a bad idea".

Imperial Tobacco, whose brands include Golden Virginia and Lambert and Butler, said the policy would drive consumers "into the hands of criminals" offering cheaper products.
Labour said the proposed tax would raise £150 million a year for the NHS.
The announcement comes at a time of rising profits for tobacco firms.
The BBC's business correspondent, Jonty Bloom, said Labour appeared to be proposing a tax on tobacco companies' profits based on market share in the UK.
This, Labour said, would raise an extra £150 million a year and is based on a similar scheme launched in America in 2009.
Tobacco companies argue they already pay £12.3bn a year in tax, but much of that comprises tobacco excise duty and VAT for the Treasury, not a tax on profits.
The three biggest companies in the UK are Imperial (44% market share), Japan Tobacco International (38% market share) and British American Tobacco (8%).
Tobacco profits have also been shooting up recently, with Imperial up 16.7% last year and British American Tobacco (BAT) up 14.5%, although exports are now a far bigger market for BAT than sales in the UK.
Axel Gietz, director of corporate affairs at Imperial Tobacco, told the BBC: "Targeting one individual industry that happens to be unpopular with an additional tax is totally unwarranted and unjust and just a bad idea.
"If you look at the taxation level of tobacco products in this country we are at 86% of the price of a pack of cigarettes in this country," he added.
Mr Gietz also warned that the proposed tax would "drive consumers in even greater numbers into the arms of organised criminals who run the illicit trades with tobacco products who, by the way, have no qualms about selling to children".
Giles Roca, the director general of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, called the tax an "anti-business idea", and said the Labour party "should be thinking of how to claw back the billions in revenue the government loses through sales of illegal tobacco in the UK".


Exeter secured a record seventh straight bonus-point win in the Premiership, running in six tries to ease past Northampton and move level on points with leaders Wasps.

JJ Hanrahan's try put Saints ahead but Don Armand and Olly Woodburn scored either side of Ken Pisi's yellow card.
Ian Whitten, Jack Nowell, Sam Hill and Woodburn all scored second-half tries as Exeter's dominance finally told.
Ahsee Tuala went over in the corner for a last-gasp Northampton consolation.
Victory for Rob Baxter's side at Gloucester on the final day of the regular season on 6 May will guarantee them a home play-off semi-final, while they could yet finish top of the table. Wasps are home to Saracens on the same day.
Northampton, meanwhile, are three points behind sixth-placed Harlequins, with European Champions Cup qualification now out of their hands. They are home to Harlequins in their final league game.
They were forced into a late change, skipper Tom Wood out with a shoulder injury, while England and Lions man Courtney Lawes was forced off with a head injury.
Samoa wing Pisi was sin-binned after being adjudged to have knocked-on deliberately with Exeter on the attack.
Nowell had a try chalked off in the first half but the Lions call-up was rewarded for a fine performance when he touched down after being bundled over in the corner.
Exeter assistant coach Ali Hepher said: "We left some tries out there, but we are pleased with the way the guys kept coming, which was the mental attitude we needed.
"Yes, we have been winning with bonus points, but we hadn't been performing right at our top, but today was getting towards it.
"The last few weeks have been tough for Jack Nowell. Coming out of the Six Nations has been a real tough one through conditioning and the mental pressures as well, so he has just been a little bit off himself, and he admitted that.
"He showed why he has been selected for this Lions tour, and why he should be going as well."
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder said: "I thought we were well beaten today.
"Over the last few weeks we've competed well against some of the top sides, but right from the start today Exeter looked after the ball and were very physical.
"I thought we defended quite well, but it took its toll, and it took its toll in attack because whenever we did get the ball we just couldn't keep hold of it and didn't have that physicality needed to break down their defence."
Exeter: Turner; Nowell, Whitten, Devoto, Woodburn; Steenson, Townsend; Rimmer, Yeandle (capt), Holmes, Dennis, Parling, Ewers, Armand, Horstmann.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Moon, Williams, Atkins, Salvi, Chudley, Simmonds, Hill.
Northampton: Tuala; Pisi, Burrell, Mallinder, Foden; Hanrahan, Groom; Waller, Hartley (capt), Brookes, Day, Ribbans, Gibson, Lawes, Harrison.
Replacements: Haywood, Ma'afu, Denman, Ratuniyarawa, Dickinson, Dickson, Tuitavake, Estelles.
For the latest rugby union news follow @bbcrugbyunion on Twitter.


Rugby player Henry Senioli should have scored an easy try this weekend but ended up being tackled after showing off on the pitch.

Senioli, a scrum-half for Italian side Treviso pointed and smiled at Scott Williams, who plays for Welsh team Scarlets, as he ran towards the line during a crucial game in Italy.
It should have been an easy try, but the Wales international made Senioli pay for his showboating, tackling him before he could score the points.
Watch the video to see what happened when Senioli's showing off back fired.
Henry Senioli isn't the first sportsman to get it wrong when it comes to showboating.
Australian cyclist Simon Clarke thought he'd won a cycle race in Italy and started celebrating.
He raised his arms above his head just as rival rider Giovanni Visconti pointed out that another rider,  Davide Formolo had already finished, 22 seconds ahead of him.
Footballer David Dunn tried to pull off a silky skill known as rabona - a move whereby a player kicks the ball by wrapping one foot behind the other.
However, in front of a packed out stadium he got it wrong and ended up falling over.
French steeplechaser Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was disqualified and stripped of his European Championship gold medal after removing his shirt during the race.
The athlete took off his vest in celebration with one hurdle to go but after the Spanish team complained about his actions he was disqualified from the competition.


Peterborough United have signed National League player of the year Ricky Miller from Dover Athletic.

The 28-year-old, who was born in Peterborough, scored 42 goals in 43 games for the Whites this season.
Miller is out of contract in the summer and will join the League One side on a three-year deal when it expires.
"He has been the top player in the National League, has scored over 40 goals and is a winner," Posh boss Grant McCann told the club's website.
McCann added: "He knows where the back of the net is and I am looking forward to working with him."
Miller completed a medical on Wednesday and will link up with his new team-mates for pre-season training at the end of June.
The former Spalding United, Stamford and Boston United player has previous Football League experience with Luton, prior to joining Dover.
Posh director of football Barry Fry said: "We tried to buy Ricky in January, but Jim [Parmenter], the chairman and owner of Dover, and Chris [Kinnear], the manager, never returned my calls.
"But I admire that greatly because Dover had great ambition to get promoted.
"Ricky has done brilliantly to score the amount of goals he has and hopefully he will come here and hit the ground running."
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


People who displayed "extraordinary acts of courage" in the wake of the Manchester bombing have been honoured alongside pop star Ariana Grande.

A special city council meeting, the first since the attack at the singer's show on 22 May, began with a tribute to those who died.
It also saw the 23-year-old become the first honorary citizen of the city.
Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the meeting showed "terrorists" that the city "will not be cowed".
Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a home-made bomb in the arena's foyer at the end of Grande's concert, killing 22 people and injuring 198 others.
Within two weeks of the attack, the singer returned to the city to headline a benefit concert in support of the newly formed We Love Manchester Emergency Fund charity.
The charity, of which Grande is a patron, has raised more than Â£12m to date.
The meeting began with the city's Lord Mayor Eddy Newman calling for "a moment's quiet reflection" as he read out the names of those who were killed.
It then heard from some of those who were involved in helping the victims in the aftermath, including a theatre sister from Wythenshawe Hospital, who said the "aftershock" of what happened was "still tangible".
Council meetings aren't ordinarily a place for string quartets and moments of emotion and grief, but the impact of the attack on Manchester and its people has changed that.
Some of the families of the 22 victims were present to hear accounts from those involved in the response on the night - a nurse at a local hospital, a council officer setting up support centres and a taxi company's boss, whose drivers ferried terrified survivors for free.
There's a deep sense here that while life goes on, for many, it will never be the same again.
Through tears, Mark Rainey, from the council's response team, said the attack had been very difficult and had seen the council "activate a number of plans we never wanted to use, such as the mass fatality plan".
The meeting also heard from youth councillor Daniel Rimes, who said there was now a "dialogue of hope and confidence" which was allowing "young people to have difficult conversations".
He said the city's young had been an "image of unity and strength", adding: "Hate cannot be responded to with hate, hate can only be responded to with hope".
Addressing the meeting with the motion to create honorary citizens, Sir Richard said those who helped in the aftermath had shown the "spirit of Manchester... of strength and defiance".
He also spoke of the proposed first recipient of the award, Ariana Grande, who had "brought comfort to thousands" when she had returned to the city to perform a benefit concert for those affected by the attack.
He added it would have been "understandable if she never wanted to see this place again".
The motion to create the new award was then passed unanimously, before the meeting was closed by members of the string section of the Halle Orchestra, who performed the song Don't Look Back In Anger.
Mr Newman said the song, by Mancunian rock band Oasis, had come to symbolise the sense of strength and defiance in the city.


South Korea has announced it is expanding its air defence zone, which will now partially overlap with a similar zone announced by China.

The two zones will now both include a rock claimed by both countries and controlled by South Korea.
The defence ministry said it would co-ordinate with "related countries".
China announced a new Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) last month, in a move that raised regional tensions.
Both countries' zones will cover the airspace above a rock called Ieodo by South Korea and Suyan by China, which is claimed by both countries.
Source: aviationdevelopment.org
Q&A: China-Japan islands row
Viewpoints: China air zone tensions
As well as Ieodo rock, South Korea's Defence Ministry also said the new military air defence zone would cover the airspace above Marado and Hongdo islands controlled by Seoul in waters south of the peninsula.
The new parameters are a direct challenge to China's own air defence zone, which covers part of the same area, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
South Korea said its zone would take effect on 15 December, and that neighbouring countries had already been notified of the change.
The government would continue to consult with neighbouring countries to stop accidental military clashes, it said.
"We will co-ordinate with related countries to fend off accidental military confrontations and to ensure safety of airplanes," defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told the AFP news agency on Sunday.
South Korea has already challenged China's attempt to impose its authority in the area by flying military planes through the zone announced by Beijing.
Commercial airlines in South Korea have also been advised not to comply with China's demands for planes to identify themselves to it.
The US and Japan have also rejected China's zone and flown undeclared military aircraft through the zone.
Q&A: China-Japan islands row
It will be the first time that South Korea has adjusted the zone since it was first set up by the US military in 1951 during the Korean War, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.
China's recently announced ADIZ also covers islands claimed and controlled by Japan.
China said aircraft flying through the zone must follow its rules, including filing flight plans.
Earlier this week, US Vice-President Joe Biden said China's announcement had caused "significant apprehension in the region".
He was speaking during a visit to China overshadowed by tensions raised by the announcement.


Bydd digwyddiadau yn cael eu cynnal yng Nghymru a thu hwnt ddydd Sadwrn i gofio am yr Aelod Seneddol Jo Cox, gafodd ei llofruddio yn ei hetholaeth flwyddyn yn ôl.

Mae'r ystod o ddigwyddiadau yn cynnwys picnic yn Sir Ddinbych a cydganu ym Mae Caerdydd.
Dywedodd Llywydd y Cynulliad, Elin Jones, mai'r nod ydy dod â chymunedau at ei gilydd.
Mae gŵr Jo Cox, Brendan, wedi dweud bod y digwyddiadau'n sicrhau y "bydd naws yr Ymgynulliad Mawr yn cael ei deimlo mewn cymaint o wahanol ffyrdd".
Dywedodd Ms Jones: "O drychineb marwolaeth Jo, mae ei gŵr, Brendan Cox yn gweithio i ddod â chymdogaethau a chymunedau at ei gilydd, a dyna pam ein bod ninnau hefyd wedi dod ynghyd i ddathlu bywyd Jo.
"Fel y dywedodd Jo, mae gennym lawer mwy yn gyffredin na sy'n ein rhannu, ac rwyf am ddiolch i bawb am ddangos eu cefnogaeth heddiw."
Dyweodd Brendan Cox: "Cefais fy nghyffwrdd gan y ffordd y mae pobl Cymru wedi uno y tu ôl i'r syniad o'r Ymgynulliad Mawr.
"Mae'n anrhydedd i mi fod Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru wedi cynnal ei ddigwyddiad ei hun. Bydd yn gosod esiampl ar gyfer y llu o ddigwyddiadau y gwn sy'n cael eu cynnal ledled Cymru dros y penwythnos.
"O bicnic yn Theatr Clwyd yng Ngogledd Cymru i'r Sgowtiaid a'r Girl Guides yn dod ynghyd yng Nghaerfyrddin, a chydganu ym Mae Caerdydd, bydd naws yr Ymgynulliad Mawr yn cael ei deimlo mewn cymaint o wahanol ffyrdd.
"Pan fydd pobl yn ceisio ein rhannu a gyrru cymunedau ar wahân rydym yn dangos ein cryfder drwy wrthod casineb a dod at ein gilydd gyda phenderfyniad i beidio byth â gadael i'r eithafwyr ennill."
Dywedodd y Prif Weinidog Carwyn Jones: "Rydym i gyd wedi cael ein heffeithio'n ddwfn gan yr ymosodiadau terfysgol yn Llundain a Manceinion, ond mae'n rhaid i ni uno yn wyneb trallod.
"Mae'r Ymgynulliad Mawr yn gyfle amserol i wrthod rhaniadau ac, yn lle hynny, i ddod â phobl at ei gilydd. Bydd ein gobaith, ein hagosatrwydd a'n hundod bob amser yn trechu casineb, a'r rheini sy'n ceisio'n gwahanu."


Recent acquisitions have helped to boost sales and profits for Glasgow-based packaging firm Macfarlane Group.

Sales for the first six months of the year were 3.7% up on the same period in 2015, at £81.5m, while pre-tax profit was 8.1% higher, at £2m.
During the first half, Macfarlane bought Colton Packaging Teesside and the packaging arm of Glasgow-based Edward McNeil Ltd.
Macfarlane said both acquisitions had had a "positive impact".
They contributed the lion's share of a 5.5% year-on-year improvement in packaging distribution sales, the company said.
However, sales from manufacturing operations were 9% below 2015 levels, which Macfarlane attributed largely to its decision "not to follow low price competition in the labels sector".
The company said it remained confident that full-year expectations would be met, with the recent acquisition of a third company - Nelsons for Cartons and Packaging - expected to contribute to profits in the second half of this year.
Group chairman Graeme Bissett said: "Our strategy is to continue to deliver sustainable profit growth through focusing on added-value products and services in our key UK market sectors, combined with the execution of value-enhancing acquisitions.
"The uncertain economic climate arising from the outcome of the EU referendum is likely to continue for a considerable time and we will monitor developments and take appropriate action."
Macfarlane employs more than 780 people at 29 sites, mainly in the UK and Ireland.


Making diesel out of thin air sounds like something from science fiction.

But small companies in Germany and Canada are doing precisely this - capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) and finding ways to sell it.
German company Sunfire produced its first batches of so-called e-diesel in April. Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka, put a few litres in her car, to celebrate.
And the Canadian company Carbon Engineering has just built a pilot plant to suck one to two tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air daily, turning it into 500 litres of diesel.
The process requires electricity, but if the start-ups use renewable electricity they can produce diesel that is carbon neutral.
In other words, burning it in your car only returns to the atmosphere the CO2 removed in the first place.
Fossil fuels, on the other hand, are carbon positive, which means that burning them adds to the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
And halting the growth of CO2 and other greenhouse gases has become of paramount importance given the many threats posed by climate change.
The concentration of CO2 in the air reached 400 parts per million in 2012-2013 - the highest since scientific measurements began. And the year July 2014-June 2015 was the warmest on record, says the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The chemistry to make fuel from CO2 isn't especially hard - split water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis, add the hydrogen to CO2 to make carbon monoxide and water, then bung in more hydrogen to build up hydrocarbon chains.
This last bit's called the Fischer-Tropsch process, and dates back to the 1920s.
But it's the technologies capturing the CO2 straight from the air that are new and now becoming cheap enough to be viable.
The biggest technological challenges have centred on the high-temperature furnaces, says Adrian Corless, chief executive of Carbon Engineering.
He says there is still "a month of hard work" to get these to work as the company would like.
But these also have been his company's chief innovation, he says - precipitating captured CO2 into solid calcium carbonate pellets that can be easily washed and dried.
These pellets are then heated to 800-900C, whereupon they release a pure CO2 stream. As a residue, they leave calcium oxide which, handily, can be fed back in to the first air capture stage.
Besides fuel, there are other options for selling captured CO2.
Swiss company Climeworks, spun off from a local university, is readying its first commercial-scale plant, selling captured CO2 to a nearby greenhouse.
Climeworks sees a long-term market in supplying fizzy drinks bottlers in Africa, Japan, and hard-to-reach islands, by setting up locally and beating transport costs.
The expense of compressing, liquefying, and shipping carbon CO2 is up to 10 times more in such places, says Dominique Kronenberg, the firm's chief operating officer.
It is certainly easier to remove CO2 from the exhaust of fossil fuel-burning plants than capture it from the air, because exhaust streams from gas and coal plants contain 3% and 15% CO2 respectively.
Air, by contrast, contains about 400 parts per million of CO2.
So why bother?
"We don't have to purify exhaust gases from a boiler or coal - these have a lot of sulphur and other molecules that might be difficult to purify out," says Mr Kronenberg.
Another attraction of air capture is it that it is easier to extract the CO2 this way than from the exhaust gases of cars and other forms of transport, says Mr Corless.
But could e-diesel ever compete with fossil fuels on price?
Sunfire estimates its e-diesel will sell for â‚¬1-â‚¬1.5 (73p-110p) per litre - slightly cheaper than the current UK diesel pump price of 119p per litre.
But a lot depends on government policy. The actual price of the fuel can be as low as 30% of what we pay at the pump - the rest of the cost is made up of fuel duty, VAT, and the retailer's profit margin.
"So we assume certain taxes might not be applied to these renewable fuels we produce," says Mr Kronenberg, perhaps more in hope than expectation.
In the US and the UK there are government initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of cleaner transport fuels.
But it's the cost of electricity that could make or break e-diesel's commercial viability, because the process requires a lot of energy.
''You can take electricity and convert it to fuel for your vehicle with about 13% efficiency," explains Dr Paul Fennell, reader in clean energy at Imperial College London.
"If you compare that to taking electricity and charging up an electric vehicle, then that can be done with about 80% efficiency," he adds.
But Mr Corless points out that "in the last two or three years, the cost of renewable electricity has dropped dramatically - especially solar."
And another point in e-diesel's favour is that there are hundreds of millions of diesel vehicles already on the road, so at least this cleaner fuel could help ease the transition to zero carbon transport while we wait for an electric or hydrogen charging infrastructure to be built.
Climeworks and Carbon Engineering say their modular technology will make it very easy for them to scale up to larger projects.
Meanwhile, the US Naval Research Laboratory says it's interested in using e-diesel to fuel its ships.
So you never know, your car may be running on fuel made from thin air sooner than you expect.


Wales should put an end to the "stigma" children face for claiming free school meals, an assembly member claims.

Joyce Watson, Labour AM for Mid and West Wales, backs a fingerprint ID system of cashless payments to help poorer children.
She is due to launch a debate on the issue in the Senedd on Tuesday and says some pupils are going hungry to avoid being seen to claim free meals.
She says there is a mixed picture on the use of cashless payment systems.
Her office's research indicates that in Denbighshire, for example, all secondary schools use some sort of cashless system, whereas in Anglesey none do.
Most commonly, in schools where children still pay with cash for their dinners, pupils eligible for free meals are given tickets.
The AM believes this makes it easy for such children to be identified and put at risk of bullying.
She recommends rolling out a system by which children have accounts to pay for school dinners which can be topped up either by their parents or by the local authority if they qualify for school meals.
All pupils would then pay for their meals by a biometric reading of their fingerprint at the till without anyone knowing how their account was funded.
Ms Watson said: "68% is the average take up of free school meals where we have a system that identifies against a near 100% where we have a system that doesn't identify those who have free school meals and those who don't.
She claimed that in schools without a cashless system there were "an awful lot of children simply going hungry" to avoid being seen to have free meals.
"[They] can't concentrate. Their sugar levels fall and their behaviour is also adversely affected by what's happening," she said.
Ms Watson intends to use her short debate during the assembly plenary to remind fellow AMs of a government commitment to roll out such cashless systems.
She said: "[Education Minister Leighton Andrews] did commit to rolling this out by September 2012.
"I want to know that that is happening. And I really think that this archaic practice of identifying children has to stop."
Addressing security concerns, Ms Watson said pupils' fingerprints were stored securely by the company that installed the biometric technology away from the school and could not be accessed by authorities.
One disincentive to move to a biometric system may be the cost, which the AM estimates at up to Â£30,000 for installation and Â£2,000 a year for maintenance.
However, Stephen Jones, head teacher of Ysgol Glan-y-Mor in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, said its piloting of a biometric payment system over the last four years had delivered results.
He said it had cut the time pupils queued for lunches as well as removing any stigma attached to free school meals.
"The children like it," he said.
"It's almost a fun element to having their lunch, the fingerprints.
"It's much quicker so they're happy about that.
"The offshoot, I suppose, would be that parents can actually have computerised printouts of all the food and drink that their children consume and they can keep an eye on whether they're having a healthy diet or not."


Two men have been jailed over a bungled shop robbery in Glasgow.

Thomas Telfer, 48, and his nephew James Telfer, 31, both of Maryhill, used air guns in the raid on Price Cutter, in the Riddrie area, in October 2015.
They left empty-handed after staff forced them out and were traced through a tobacco pouch they left at the scene.
Both men admitted assault, robbery and firearms charges. Thomas Telfer was jailed for five years and James Telfer was ordered to serve 45 months.
Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lady Scott said she had no other option but to send the pair to prison.
The court heard that following the failed raid, police discovered a tobacco packet which was of a type the shop did not sell.
This later linked the two men to the raid and they were arrested by police.
Thomas Telfer's solicitor advocate, Philip McWilliams, told the court that his client owed money to drug dealers.
Mr McWilliams added: "He was blamed by drug dealers for a package which had gone missing from a bookmakers in the Maryhill area of Glasgow.
"This package was worth approximately Â£40,000 and he was told he must recompense the people concerned for the loss of this package.
"He expresses remorse for his role in the incident."
James Telfer's solicitor advocate, Eddie Gilroy, told the court that his client had appreciated that he had placed the two shop workers under stress.
He added: "He fully appreciates that this was a terrifying incident for those individuals who were caught up in the incident."


Irish Paralympic star Jason Smyth is convinced Olympic qualification remains within reach four years after he narrowly missed out on joining Usain Bolt in the 100m entry in London.

Smyth retained his T13 sprint titles at the London 2012 Paralympics after being 0.04 seconds from clinching a 100m spot at the Olympics a few weeks earlier.
Visually-impaired Smyth will chase the Rio Olympics 100m mark in a series of meetings in Florida over the next five weeks.
"I still absolutely think the Olympics are possible," says the 28-year-old Northern Irishman.
"I ran 10.22 in 2011 plus 10.24 in 2012 and a windy 10.17. I know in 2012 that I should have run the standard.
"I just kept making silly mistakes because I was trying to force it to happen instead of letting it happen," adds the county Londonderry man, who became a father for the first time last October a week after winning his fifth World Paralympic title.
The IAAF has reduced the 100m Olympic standard to an even quicker 10.16 seconds for Rio - 0.06 inside Smyth's personal best - but the Irishman remains undaunted as he prepares for his season opener in Gainesville on Friday.
Oscar Pistorius is the only track and field athlete to have competed at an Olympics and Paralympics in the same year after achieving the feat in London.
Smyth, the world's fastest ever Paralympian, says he has travelled to the US in his "best shape since 2012" after enduring an injury-affected three years.
The Northern Irishman damaged a knee during a weights session in January 2013 and after unsuccessfully attempting to manage the ailment for a frustrating two-year period, eventually underwent surgery 15 months ago.
"I was pulling the bar up from the ground and I didn't get my knee away and I smashed it," recalls Smyth, who as an eight-year-old was diagnosed with the genetic condition Stargardt's Disease, which has left him with less than 10% of normal vision.
"I couldn't event squat without getting pain. It just got to the stage where nothing was working after a couple of years trying to manage it, so it had to be surgery."
After the knee operation in January 2015, the four-time Paralympic gold medallist was only able to resume light jogging three months later and while he never considered retirement, he admits he had concerns that his best sprinting days might be behind him.
"You do go through periods of wondering whether you are going to get back to where you were. I was struggling," recalls Smyth.
However, the unusually late October date of last year's IPC World Championships in Doha gave the Derryman a chance to salvage something from 2015.
Progress after the operation was initially slow but by end of August he was racing again and an invitation to compete in a special 100m race in Rio involving Paralympic stars from several disability categories was a further morale boost.
With concerns over the Zika virus not yet having surfaced, Smyth was content with both his performance and the conditions in the Olympic city as he won the event ahead of American star Richard Browne.
"I know if I'm beating these guys when I'm not anything like 100%, then I'm always going to be alright.
"Being there exactly a year before the games and seeing the weather, I was pleasantly surprised because temperature wise it was perfect and the people were very friendly as well," adds Smyth, who will only defend one title in Rio after the International Paralympic Committee opted to remove the T13 200m from the programme.
"And as regards the World Championships in Doha, they couldn't have worked out better with the later date.
"It was all about going there and winning because that is money in the bank for me."
Smyth opted out of the defence of the T13 200m in Qatar as he rushed home to be with wife Elise, who was due to give birth to their first child.
Little Evie arrived six days later but with, by Smyth's admission, Elise taking on the bulk of the baby duties, the sprinter is still getting his "beauty sleep".
Under the eye of coach Clarence Callender at Lee Valley in London in addition to regular monitoring at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, Smyth has had six months of uninterrupted training since Doha in an effort to make up for lost time.
Smyth says his "numbers in the gym" over the winter and spring were very encouraging as he built up towards a Florida trip likely to prove pivotal to his Olympic ambitions.
He has run under 10.30 seconds for 100m nine times and eight of those performances came on the Clermont track west of Orlando from 2011-13 when he was training alongside a group of world-class sprinters which included Tyson Gay.
After racing in Gainesville on Friday, Smyth will compete in the first of a couple of Clermont meetings on 30 April.
"For me, it's about giving myself the best opportunity," adds the Northern Irishman, who became the first Paralympic athlete to participate at a European Championships in 2010 and then raced against Bolt and company at the World Championships in Daegu a year later.
"The good weather and the good conditions give you the best chances of running the Olympic time.
"If I need to extend my trip, if I'm knocking on the door, I will do that just to give myself every possible opportunity."


Katarina Johnson-Thompson finished fifth in the heptathlon on a disappointing day three for Britain at the World Athletics Championships.

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Johnson-Thompson came into the final event, the 800m, needing a 17-second swing to finish with bronze but failed to achieve the improbable feat.
Belgium's Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam won gold with 6,784 points.
Meanwhile, Briton Holly Bradshaw finished sixth in the pole vault after failing to clear 4.75m.
The 25-year-old, who set a new British record of 4.80m in May, cleared 4.65m on her third attempt.
Johnson-Thompson came into the second day of competition in fourth place after a mixed Saturday.
She produced only 1.86m in the high jump and was 13th in the field after a 12.47m shot-put. However, a superb 200m saw her move her up to fourth by the end of the first day.
The 24-year-old then improved a place with a leap of 6.56m in the long jump. However, both Dutch athlete Anouk Vetter (58.41) and Cuba's Yorgelis Rodriguez (47.41m) threw much further than Johnson-Thompson (41.72m) in the javelin to leapfrog the Briton going into the final event.
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The 24-year-old said she would focus on the positives.
"I feel like one of these days it will happen for me," she tells BBC Sport.
"There is a lot to work on. It's been completely stripped down... my mental attitude, the way I approach training, the way I approach each competition.
"Everyone said it was going to take a couple of years but I wanted it to come together at London 2017. But I feel very positive for the future."
Germany's Carolin Schafer took silver with 6,696 points and Vetter of the Netherlands, who produced a championship best javelin throw of 58.41m, claimed bronze with 6,636.
Three-time world champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill suggested that Johnson-Thompson could seek advice from her former coach Toni Minichello.
"I would offer advice if she came to me and if she wanted to hear my experiences. But the mental side of things is quite a hard thing to master and that is part of our event, unfortunately," she said.
"Toni is a fantastic coach. He's been brilliant for me throughout my career and we've worked really well together.
"She could definitely take advice from him but it's her decision, it's her path that she wants to take and she's made a big decision to move to France already and I'm imagining she's going to want to see that through a bit longer and see where that takes her next year."
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"It was really frustrating," Bradshaw told BBC Sport. "I'm not sure what happened because I am in great shape, but the conditions were difficult.
"I don't want to use that as an excuse but everything seemed to go against me, but fair play to the other women who performed out there.
"I am really heartbroken. I've worked so hard over the last few years to overcome injuries and I'm in the best shape of my life, but I am just really confused and disappointed.
"Just to be here is such a privilege and I'm trying not to lose sight of that. The crowd were amazing and I need to look to the future now and move on."
Greece's Katerina Stefanidi's took gold with 4.91m and American Sandi Morris (4.75m) claimed silver. Venezuela's Robeilys Peinado and Cuba's Yarisley Silva both took bronze with 4.65m after clearing the height by fewer attempts than Bradshaw.
UK Sport has set Great Britain a target of six to eight medals. Mo Farah's gold in the 10,000m on Friday is the only medal Britain has won so far. That total could improve on Monday as double European indoor champion Laura Muir goes in the 1500m final.
Kelly Sotherton, former British heptathlete, told BBC Radio 5 live: "We're supposed to have home advantage and the team will look at things they can do better, but it's a bit premature to judge the British performance this early. We should have this conversation next weekend.
"There are lots of great youngsters who could potentially use this home advantage and step up. We can't be too downbeat at the moment.
"We have put so much pressure on the team and that hasn't been dealt with very well. The success of the championships - are they viewed on how many medals the team win or how well we've hosted the championships?"


To the less-adventurous foreign diner visiting Spain, gooseneck barnacles are a slimy, salty, unappealing snack.

But for a Galician, they are an expensive, tasty treat and their high price implies a high risk for the men and women who prise them off the rocks, on this Spanish region's beautiful, but often inhospitable and ragged coastline.
Now, the barnacle-collectors or percebeiros, as they are known in Galician, say stocks of the valuable seafood delicacy are being decimated by a rising number of people who go out gathering without a licence.
It is ten o'clock at night in Bayona, a fishing town near Galicia's border with Portugal.
Xose Lourenzo, a member of the Guarda pesca - the Fishermen's Guard, a security service funded by the fishermen and barnacle-collectors here - stares out through night vision binoculars into the pitch black.
Below us, amid the sound of waves crashing onto the rocks, eminently more visible in the green night-vision of the binoculars, is someone gathering valuable gooseneck barnacles illegally.
"Although they're hard to collect," says Mr Lourenzo, "it pays well. In just an hour, or two, you can collect 50 [Â£42; $67] or 60 euros' worth."
Unable to track down the individual they spotted in amongst myriad rock formations, they later show us a net-load of illegal catch, abandoned at the sea's edge by another individual, who ran off in a hurry to avoid being caught and the possibility of a fine.
Mr Lourenzo says the number of people heading out to collect the barnacles without a licence has risen during the economic crisis.
And he says the perpetrators generally fit into two camps.
Firstly, there are those who collect several kilos' worth and then sell them to restaurants or in other regions of Spain for a profit.
And then there are those like Heladio Davila, who has been unemployed for two years and gathers the barnacles for food, to eat with his daughter at home.
Mr Davila says "lots" of people now collect the barnacles illegally.
"There's no other way for us to earn, so we can eat," he says. "There are no factories here, just two months' work in tourism during the summer."
At ten o'clock in the morning, near Bayona, we witness a fiery exchange.
Fifty or so barnacle collectors, some in their wetsuits, shout face to face.
In a scene reminiscent of the build-up to a bar brawl, two men square up, as if they are about to fight.
But these are not licence-holders taking on poachers - they are all on the same side, and legal.
They decide to hold a vote, and a slim majority of the percebeiros decide they will head out to collect barnacles today.
The rest of the group wanted to postpone the collection until later in the week because on the day we are there, the sea is particularly rough.
Tension and the number of arguments have risen here.
That is because only days before we arrived the percebeiros in this part of Galicia agreed to reduce the number of days they can head out to collect barnacles, from 15 days a month to just eight.
"We live off the barnacles," says Susana Gonzalez Alvarez.
The number of collecting days has been reduced because the stocks of barnacles have fallen, and she blames over-fishing, caused by people collecting the barnacles without a licence.
"The fewer days we go out, the fewer barnacles we collect, and the less money we earn."
Ms Gonzalez is continuing a female family tradition. Her mother and grandmother were barnacle-collectors before her.
And she works on the rocks in a team, with her three sisters, Eladia, Isabel and Belen.
As each wave goes out, they follow quickly after, moving stealthily to the rocks' edge, where they chip away at barnacles with a pole.
Often they have to then run, as a wave crashes in, and the powerful currents of the Atlantic swirl around the rocks.
"It's a job in which accidents are common, people often fracture arms and legs, and you can easily fall into the sea," says Isabel.
But inexperienced, illegal collectors are undeterred, and often do not respect the rules over the size of the barnacles you are supposed to pick and the parts of the coastline where you are not allowed to gather.
The high price of these slimy snacks is something more and more people cannot resist, and the four sisters are among those who lose out.


UKIP would scrap much of the legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination in work, party leader Nigel Farage has said.

He was speaking in a Channel 4 documentary to be shown next week.
Downing Street said his comments were "deeply concerning", while Labour branded them "shocking".
Mr Farage told the BBC his remarks, recorded last autumn, had been "wilfully misinterpreted", saying he was talking about nationality not race.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme he said he was making the point that employers should be able to discriminate in favour of British workers.
"I didn't mention race at all. There was no part of that interview which I ever said it at all.
"What I said was that I do believe there should be a presumption for British employers in favour of them employing British people as opposed to somebody from Poland. That is exactly what I said," he added.
The Channel 4 programme makers say they have not misrepresented Mr Farage's views.
"He was asked a direct question on whether there would be a law against discrimination on the grounds of race or colour and he replied no," they said.
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said Mr Farage was "backing away" from what were perhaps the "most contentious" remarks in the documentary, aware of the "fury" they had caused.
"In that documentary he was talking about scrapping equalities legislation, now he's talking about reframing employment legislation; they are two entirely different things," he said.
Mr Farage's original comments came during an interview with the former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, for a Channel 4 documentary called Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True.
He said that while concern over preventing racial discrimination in employment "would probably have been valid" 40 years ago, it is not today.
"If I talked to my children... about the question of race, they wouldn't know what I was talking about," he was reported to say.
He also said he would get rid of "much of" existing legislation.
Analysis, BBC political correspondent Robin Brant
Nigel Farage the libertarian is back. Or at least that is one way of reading it. Race discrimination laws are no longer needed he says. It is a state intervention that time has made redundant.
The problem, as he sees it, is a form of national discrimination; forced upon the UK by Brussels.
As the UK economy recovers, UKIP believes Britons are only partly benefitting. From Clacton to Castle Point to Cleethorpes - key areas for Nigel Farage's party in the general election - UKIP thinks the fall in unemployment has seen jobs go to Europeans over, or as well as, Brits.
"British jobs for British workers" (as former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown once said) is the answer, according to the UKIP leader.
Do not forget that the current Labour leader, Ed Miliband, wants to change things that he thinks are making the labour market unfair for British workers, by stopping firms recruiting solely from abroad.
And when asked if he would retain a ban on discrimination on the grounds of race or colour, he said: "No... because we take the view, we are colour-blind. We as a party are colour-blind."
Criticising recruitment laws, he said: "I think the employer should be much freer to make decisions on who she or he employs.
"I think the situation that we now have, where an employer is not allowed to choose between a British-born person and somebody from Poland, is a ludicrous state of affairs.
"I would argue that the law does need changing, and that if an employer wishes to choose, or you can use the word 'discriminate' if you want to, but wishes to choose to employ a British-born person, they should be allowed to do so."
Asked about his remarks on Today, Mr Farage said: "My comments have been wilfully misinterpreted. I have made no comments about the Race Relations Act at all.
"I have made comments in favour of British people getting jobs over and above those from southern eastern Europe."
The UKIP leader said he was speaking up for Britain's unemployed youth "both black and white", saying the young black community had suffered the biggest rise in unemployment as a result of immigration.
He said Gordon Brown, as Labour prime minister, spoke of British jobs for British workers, adding: "Well I'm saying it and really meaning it."
The prime minister, David Cameron, condemned Mr Farage's calls to scrap equalities legislation as "completely wrong and frankly pretty appalling".
He said the laws were there to protect people from being discriminated against on the basis of the colour of their skin.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the UKIP leader's comments were "wrong, divisive and dangerous", and accused him of "stoking up division".
The party's justice spokesman Sadiq Khan accused Mr Farage of "breathtaking ignorance" and told the BBC it was troubling to hear a mainstream politician make such comments.
During his regular LBC radio phone-in, Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he "strongly disagreed" with Mr Farage, who he said was "irresponsible" to conflate issues with employment legislation to problems like violent extremism and Sharia law.
And Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey accused the UKIP leader of "dangerous crude dog whistle politics".
There were 3,064 racial discrimination in the workplace cases lodged in 2013-14, down from 4,818 in the previous year.
The sharp fall came in the same year the government introduced fees to begin proceedings at an Employment Tribunal, to reduce their numbers.


London marathon co-founder John Disley has died at the age of 87 after a short illness.

Disley, from Corris in north Wales, and his friend Chris Brasher set up the first London event in 1981.
The British pair met in the 1950s when competing in the 3,000m steeplechase - Disley taking bronze at the 1952 Olympic Games and Brasher gold in 1956.
A former vice-chairman of the UK Sports Council, Disley was appointed a CBE in 1979 for his work in outdoor education.
Disley is regarded as the first world-class British steeplechaser, and lowered the British record for the 3,000 metres event five times at the peak of his career in the 1950s.
However, he didn't take up athletics seriously until he arrived at Loughborough College in 1946 and met his mentor, the tutor and athletics coach Geoffrey Dyson.
Disley was tipped for gold at the Olympics in Helsinki and twice broke the British record but could manage only third place in the final behind American Horace Ashenfelter and the Soviet Union's Vladimir Kazantsev.
Four years later it was his friend Brasher - ranked number three in Britain - who took the gold in Melbourne with Disley finishing sixth.
They were involved in another race 31 years later in 1979. This time it was the New York marathon and they were so impressed they determined to set up a similar event in London.
The pair convinced the Greater London Council, the police, the City of London, the Amateur Athletics Association and London Tourist Board to back the event.
And after securing a sponsorship deal to cover any potential cash shortfall, Disley and Brasher staged the first London race on 29 March 1981, with 7,474 runners taking part.
In 2015, a London record of 37,675 runners finished the race.
Disley continued as president of the London Marathon Charitable Trust after Brasher's death in 2003.
The Welshman, born and raised in Corris on the southern slopes of Snowdonia, held several other posts in sport.
He taught physical education at Isleworth Grammar School, and was the chief instructor at the National Mountain Sports Centre in Plas y Brenin in Snowdonia.
He was vice chairman of the UK Sports Council for eight years and was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Disley was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and was also BBC Cymru Wales Sports personality of the year in 1955.


Wasteful Lincoln were forced to settle for a draw against Morecambe in their first home match back in the Football League.

The Imps largely dominated the first half with Jordan Maguire-Drew and Nathan Arnold forcing veteran keeper Barry Roche into stunning saves while Matt Green dragged a good chance wide of the far post.
However, the Shrimps also threatened with only a last-ditch clearance from Sean Raggett denying Garry Thompson a goal and Aaron McGowan hitting the bar with a stunning 30-yard effort.
And it was Jim Bentley's visitors who took the lead in the 53rd minute when Aaron Wildig, having failed to convert a much easier chance two minutes earlier, volleyed home superbly from the edge of the box.
Matt Rhead, Raggett and Matt Green went agonisingly close to equalising but were denied by excellent goalkeeping, good defending or poor finishing.
However, the Imps finally levelled in the 70th minute when Green broke into the box, held off a defender and fired home from an acute angle.
Report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Lincoln City 1, Morecambe 1.
Second Half ends, Lincoln City 1, Morecambe 1.
Attempt saved. Sean Raggett (Lincoln City) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Lincoln City. Conceded by Aaron McGowan.
Foul by Sean Raggett (Lincoln City).
Michael Rose (Morecambe) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt saved. Michael Bostwick (Lincoln City) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Morecambe. Conceded by Robert Dickie.
Robert Dickie (Lincoln City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Michael Rose (Morecambe).
Substitution, Morecambe. Andrew Fleming replaces Aaron Wildig.
Substitution, Lincoln City. Harry Anderson replaces Jordan Maguire-Drew.
Substitution, Lincoln City. Ollie Palmer replaces Matt Rhead.
Delay in match Dean Winnard (Morecambe) because of an injury.
Attempt saved. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the centre of the goal.
Attempt saved. Patrick Brough (Morecambe) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Morecambe. Conceded by Michael Bostwick.
Attempt missed. Garry Thompson (Morecambe) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left.
Corner,  Morecambe. Conceded by Sean Long.
Substitution, Morecambe. Steven Old replaces Vadaine Oliver.
Foul by Michael Bostwick (Lincoln City).
Michael Rose (Morecambe) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Michael Bostwick (Lincoln City).
Vadaine Oliver (Morecambe) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Attempt saved. Nathan Arnold (Lincoln City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt saved. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.
Substitution, Morecambe. Rhys Turner replaces Kevin Ellison.
Delay in match Aaron McGowan (Morecambe) because of an injury.
Goal!  Lincoln City 1, Morecambe 1. Matt Green (Lincoln City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Nathan Arnold.
Attempt missed. Garry Thompson (Morecambe) header from the right side of the box misses to the left.
Corner,  Morecambe. Conceded by Alex Woodyard.
Foul by Alex Woodyard (Lincoln City).
Vadaine Oliver (Morecambe) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Matt Green (Lincoln City) header from the centre of the box is too high.
Michael Bostwick (Lincoln City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Kevin Ellison (Morecambe).
Attempt missed. Matt Green (Lincoln City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is close, but misses to the right.
Attempt blocked. Sean Raggett (Lincoln City) header from the centre of the box is blocked.
Corner,  Lincoln City. Conceded by Barry Roche.
Attempt saved. Matt Rhead (Lincoln City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.


The London Stock Exchange has said it is continuing to "work hard" on its planned merger with Deutsche Boerse.

Earlier this week, the LSE said the deal could collapse as it was unlikely to get European Commission clearance.
The commission had ordered the LSE to sell its 60% stake in MTS, a fixed-income trading platform. The LSE had called the request "disproportionate".
The LSE's latest comments came as the exchange reported an increase in profits for 2016.
Excluding restructuring costs and businesses it has sold or closed, LSE said profit before tax rose to Â£623.1m for the year from Â£516.4m a year ago.
"The group has worked hard on our proposed merger with Deutsche Boerse, which received formal approval from both sets of shareholders," the firm said.
"The next milestone is expected to be the outcome of European Commission Phase II process on or before 3 April 2017."
On Sunday night, the LSE warned investors it would struggle to sell MTS and that such a sale would harm its business.
As a result, the LSE said: "Based on the commission's current position, LSE believes that the commission is unlikely to provide clearance for the merger."
The two rival exchanges announced plans for a "merger of equals" about a year ago, aiming to create a giant trading powerhouse that would be able to compete more effectively against US rivals.
They had already agreed to sell Clearnet, which is part of LSE's clearing business LCH, to satisfy competition concerns before the commission's surprise demand concerning MTS earlier this month.


More than half of Devon's libraries could close under proposals being considered by the county council.

The BBC has obtained a briefing paper listing 28 of the 50 public libraries in Devon where council support is being cut.
Communities will now be asked to take over the running of services, otherwise they will end.
The paper proposes keeping 22 major libraries - to be known as Devon Centres - under council control.
The BBC has been told the libraries will be located in key areas and become "community hubs" - incorporating information technology, adult learning classes, cafes and business support services.
The remaining libraries will receive assistance from the council - in areas like book buying and management support - but communities will be expected to take over much of their running through volunteers.
The library service in Devon has to save another £1.5m due to spending cuts, the briefing paper says, in addition to a £3m cut over the last three years.
Councillor Roger Croad, the Devon County Council lead on libraries. said: "This is not a closure programme, I can absolutely assure you we are committed as a county council to libraries, we think libraries are great.
"We just need to evolve the way we support them and move forward."
But library users have voiced concern, saying they fear losing much loved and important local assets.
Jean Larsson, who attends Bovey Tracey Library, said: "I'd lay down in the road, I wouldn't let them do it. It's very important I think to a lot of people in Bovey, it's a busy library."
A consultation on the proposals will get under way later this month.
People have three months to submit their ideas and views to Devon County Council.


Players and staff at League Two club Morecambe have had their wages paid late for the third time this season.

The Shrimps have had financial problems all season amid uncertainty over the club's ownership, and a court case is currently ongoing over a possible takeover by businessman Joseph Cala.
Owner Graham Burnard told BBC Radio Lancashire a delay in an international bank transfer caused the late payments.
Morecambe have lost six games in a row to drop to 19th in the table.
Cala's attempted purchase  was delayed on 3 February after Brazilina Diego Lemos, who owns a share in the club's owners, G50 Holdings, obtained a court order preventing a sale.
Cala hopes to buy Abdulrahman Al-Hashemi's stake in G50 but 99% of that share was transferred to tax consultant Burnard on 11 January.
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Newcastle Falcons have signed centre Nick Reynolds from London Welsh on a deal until the end of the season.

The 27-year-old has left the Championship side after they went into liquidation because of their financial situation.
The former Wales Under-20 international previously played for Scarlets and moved to Welsh in 2014.
"Nick is an experienced centre who was available at the right time for us," said Falcons boss Dean Richards.


A man who beat his girlfriend and put her unconscious body inside a suitcase before dumping it in London's Grand Union Canal has been jailed for life.

Tomasz Kocik, 38, of Buckingham Road, Harlesden, was found guilty of murdering Marta Ligman, 23.
The trial heard Ms Ligman may have been alive when Kocik dragged her from their flat to the canal in north west London.
At the Old Bailey he was told he would serve a minimum of 18 years and six months.
Kocik was caught on CCTV cameras early in the morning of 1 May this year dragging an "extremely heavy" and large suitcase for half a mile from his home to the canal towpath and then filmed again when he returned home an hour later with wet trousers.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard told Kocik Ms Ligman had suffered a "severe beating" at his hands.
More on this story and updates from London.
He said: "Dead or dying you then treated her body in a grotesque and demeaning way, hauling her in a suitcase down to the canal and carrying a stick to try to submerge the case when you got there."
Kocik then followed a "determined" course of action to mislead her family, friends and police by using Ms Ligman's Facebook account to "leave a false trail", the judge said.
The court heard Ms Ligman's body was discovered 10 days later by the occupants of a houseboat who spotted her dyed red hair streaming from the case after it collided with the hull.
Her body was in a tight foetal position wrapped in bin bags and curtains.
Despite her family asking him to report Ms Ligman's disappearance Kocik failed to report her missing until after the body was found in the canal.
Ms Ligman was in Poland when she met Kocik in an online dating chatroom, before moving to London in 2012 to live with the forklift truck driver.
The jury heard that colleagues at the delicatessen where Ms Ligman worked described Kocik as an "obsessively jealous, controlling boyfriend".
In his defence Kocik, a Polish national, claimed he had found Ms Ligman dead at their flat after days of amphetamine fuelled bondage sex sessions.


Penalty shootouts may be nerve-shredding events for most footballers, but for BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2017 nominee Hedvig Lindahl, it appears to be where she excels.

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We are profiling each of the five nominees for the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year 2017 award. You can see all their profiles, read full terms and vote here for your favourite online until 08:00 GMT/09:00 BST on Monday, 15 May.
The Sweden and Chelsea goalkeeper helped her country win a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics with her shootout heroics against USA in the quarter-finals and Brazil in the semi-finals.
"I had studied them so closely and the last save in that penalty shootout [against Brazil] is probably the one I'm most proud of because it was so far out, and I could stretch and I was really explosive to get there," she said.
"No-one could have expected us to come away with the silver, so we performed over everyone's expectation."
In December 2016, Lindahl joined Sweden's most famous footballer, Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, on stage as they won Sweden's female and male Footballer of the Year awards respectively.
The pair started their football careers 16 years ago at the same club - Malmo - but their lives have gone in very different directions.
"What a difference it is, what kind of life he has, what kind of life I have, it's just interesting," Lindahl said.
"I remember I was part of the 2003 World Cup squad that came second - I thought everyone would know who I am because I'd been in the World Cup final squad and then I woke up and realised it's women's football and it's not really like that.
"Growing up, you thought that being a footballer would bring fame and fortune, but being a female footballer means for me now that I am part of something that opens doors for so many other women in the world that still struggle with their own rights and right to play football."
Lindahl signed for London-based Women's Super League club Chelsea Ladies in December 2014 and within a few months it proved to be a dream move.
At the 2015 FA Women's Cup final, staged at Wembley Stadium for the first time, Lindahl kept goal in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Notts County.
It was Chelsea's first major trophy and later that year they secured their first FA WSL title for a league and cup 'double'.
The goalkeeper says none of her success with Chelsea would have been possible without the support she received from wife Sabine.
"My proudest moment is the birth of our two sons, but my wife Sabine made a massive sacrifice to come with me to England," she said.
"I'm very, very thankful because that decision has made me excel, which means I didn't have to become that bitter, old woman in a sports bar saying, 'I could have been that one!'
"It's an exciting time to be part of women's football wherever you are in the world right now. It's like it's boiling, it's just waiting to really take off and if I can stretch my career a few more years to be part of that - maybe all of my years that I struggled will be worth it because of the years that lie ahead."
"Please vote for me if you think I'm worth it and also because I've always had a dream about being the best goalkeeper in the world and if you vote for me that's solidifying my dream and hopefully that could inspire other girls out there to reach for their dreams."


A priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing two boys after telling one of them he was "preparing" him for a girlfriend.

The Reverend Christopher Howarth, of Rocks Park Road, Uckfield, was found guilty of 26 offences against the boys, now aged 19 and 20.
Hove Crown Court was told the former teacher paid money to the boys in return for sexual gratification.
He admitted one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The offences, including seven counts of sexual activity with a child, took place between 2004 and 2012 in the Uckfield area of East Sussex.
Howarth, 67, was an unpaid non-stipendiary priest until he was suspended by the Diocese of Chichester in December 2012.
He was a teacher at Uckfield Community Technology College before he retired in 2007.
He was remanded in custody to await sentencing on 7 August.


A dog had to be rescued from a car by firefighters after its owner dropped her keys down a drain and trapped the animal inside.

Ruth Purchase's English bull terrier, Florence ended up stuck in the car in Yoxford, Suffolk.
A fire crew had to lift the car up and move it off the drain it was parked over to retrieve the keys.
As reported in the East Anglian Daily Times, crew commander Daniel Jay said it was a "happy ending".
Fire crews were at the scene from 19:30 to 20:15 BST on Monday.


Newcastle United's return to the Premier League at the first time of asking - sealed by Monday's 4-1 victory over Preston - marks a successful first full season for manager Rafael Benitez.

The Magpies were unable to avoid the drop into the second tier last term. However, under the Spaniard, who committed his future to the club before the season started, it has been a short stay outside the top flight.
BBC Sport assesses some of the key factors behind the success.
Few clubs begin life having been relegated from the Premier League with an air of optimism but Newcastle United did, in no small part to Benitez's presence.
Supporters, who had campaigned for the former Real Madrid and Liverpool boss to stay despite the drop, were rewarded with his decision to stay and the knock-on effect was an English Football League record 37,000 season ticket sales.
Benitez was also key to tempting Premier League players in Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle to step down a division to join the Newcastle cause.
"He is a great manager and has great experience," Gayle told BBC Newcastle on arriving at St James' Park from Crystal Palace. "There's expectation, but under the manager here I believe he can help me to perform.
"There's a great history at Newcastle. I'm looking forward to getting this club back in the Premier League and proving a few people wrong."
Gayle and his team-mates have backed up those words with action.
Playing to bumper home crowds of 52,000 can make or break a player, particularly when the club they play for are such hot favourites for promotion.
While Aston Villa, also relegated, failed to acclimatise to life in the Championship, with their league position dipping at one stage as low as 20th, the Magpies have not been outside the top four since September 2016.
"It's not easy to drop into the Championship," former Newcastle winger Chris Waddle told BBC Radio 5 live. "Newcastle are a big scalp, with the fan base they've got, home and away, so every game has been difficult for them.
"As we saw, Aston Villa found it difficult and they've got a big support as well. But Newcastle, for all they've had a bit of a wobble, they've been up there all season."
Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald, Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer... Dwight Gayle. The former Crystal Palace striker has continued a lineage of free-scoring strikers in black and white, all wearing the number nine shirt.
Only two teams have scored more Championship goals than Newcastle this season, and that impressive strike rate has been a key factor in their success.
Gayle, recruited in pre-season for £10m, has weighed in with 22 goals despite missing chunks of the season with a recurring hamstring problem.
"It's not just the goals," Benitez said after Gayle netted twice in a 2-0 win against Leeds in November. "It's the movement he gives to the team."
While the signing of Gayle last summer made the most headlines, arguably the transfer that has had the most impact was that of Ciaran Clark.
The Republic of Ireland defender has been key to a miserly defence that has conceded only 39 goals and has only been on the losing side five times in 34 games this season.
Clark and PFA Team of the Year member Jamaal Lascelles have combined to give Newcastle a steel to complement the silky attacking play of  Ritchie, Jonjo Shelvey and Gayle.
"Ciaran Clark's been the best defender we've had all season," said ex-Newcastle defender and BBC Newcastle summariser John Anderson. "He's been a big loss when he's been out."
Although there are some survivors from the team that were relegated, Benitez had little hesitation in moving on big name players on arriving in the Championship.
Before a ball was kicked, Georginio Wijnaldum moved to Liverpool, and once the season was under way, Daryl Janmaat and Moussa Sissoko also departed for Watford and Tottenham respectively.
Those transfer fees brought in revenue and lightened the wage bill. And along with Clark and Gayle, Grant Hanley, Mo Diame, DeAndre Yedlin, Matz Sels, Jesus Gamez, Isaac Hayden, Daryl Murphy and Achraf Lazaar have all arrived to bolster the promotion bid.
"Benitez got two out and got about £55m to bring players in," Waddle added. "He's bought well.
"It gave them the funds to challenge in this league. He spent a lot on different players to make sure he had a strong squad that would be very competitive for the Championship.
"It's a hard league to get out of, and he's bought well."
While having the funds to invest has given Newcastle a strong squad, it has also given Benitez the headache of accommodating all those big personalities.
Injuries and suspensions to key personnel such as Gayle, Shelvey and Clark have given opportunities to others in the squad.
"Togetherness is a massive strength of what we've got here," defender Hanley said in March as Newcastle closed in on promotion. "The lads who have been playing have done really well and that's the way it is.
"Everybody knows they have a part to play, so it's important to be constantly ready and on top of your game so when you're called up you're ready to go."