Rose Gentle has campaigned since her son's death in 2004

Rose Gentle's son Gordon, 19, was serving with the Royal Highland Fusiliers when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra in June 2004.

Mrs Gentle, 43, from Glasgow, said she was "shocked" by the tags' condition.

An Army spokeswoman rejected the claim and said the dog tags were clean when they left headquarters.

She said: "When the dog tags left the headquarters to go to the family's nominated third party they were 100% clean."

The spokeswoman said they were sent by a very experienced officer and "no-one in the Army would do anything to upset the family".

Mrs Gentle, 43, from Pollok, was reported to have said she wanted to know why it took so long to deliver the tags.

After her son's remains were repatriated to the UK, Mrs Gentle said she noticed that his dog tags were missing.

She said she telephoned and wrote to officials asking for the return of the metal discs, worn by military service personnel on a chain around their necks.

'Warn families'

The dog tags were finally returned to her through a family friend, who had been asking the Ministry of Defence for the release of the tags.

Mrs Gentle, who has been campaigning since her son's death to bring British troops home from Iraq, told the Daily Record newspaper: "I've been asking for these dog tags for the last three years and they were posted to me through a friend two weeks ago."

When the tags were passed to Mrs Gentle, she said they were blood-stained.

"I think they [the Army] should warn families about this sort of thing before sending it," she said.

"I'd also like to know why it took them three years to hand them back."