FAMILIES of soldiers killed in Iraq will boycott the launch of the Chilcot report tomorrow, fearing a “whitewash” following claims that it never looked into the legality of the war.

Sir John Chilcot will tomorrow unveil his report into Britain’s part in the Iraq war — seven years after the public inquiry was announced by then-prime minister Gordon Brown.

The International Criminal Court has already indicated that Tony Blair, who took the country to war, will not face prosecution as the decision to go to war in Iraq “falls outside the court’s jurisdiction.”

Julia Nicholson, whose son Gary died when his plane was shot down in 2005, said she was “absolutely disgusted,” adding: “I’m not going because it will be a whitewash.”

She accused Tony Blair of having “blood on his hands” and warned “he will have covered his back and [then US president George W] Bush’s back.”

And Janice Procter, whose 18-year-old son Michael Trench was one of the youngest Britons to be killed in the conflict, said that Mr Blair had “put 179 kids to the slaughter. There’s no justice.”

Ms Procter said she would not attend the launch as the report would not bring her any comfort or closure.

Roger Bacon, whose son Matthew was killed in 2005, said he expected the report to reveal “what I’ve always believed, which is that [Mr Blair] took us to war illegally.

“If it’s a whitewash I will be hugely disappointed, no question of that.”

And David Godfrey, whose grandson Daniel Coffey was killed in 2007, branded Mr Blair a “war criminal” and said “he has to be held responsible.”

Lord Butler, who carried out the 2004 review of the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD), said the legality of the war “wasn’t actually put to [Mr Chilcot] and, of course, his review team wasn’t equipped properly to deal with that legal issue.”

He also repeated his review’s finding that Mr Blair did not lie about the intelligence on WMD but “exaggerated” its reliability.

However, a number of MPs are expected to try to impeach Mr Blair, and at the weekend shadow chancellor John McDonnell refused to rule out trying Mr Blair for war crimes.

Mr Blair has refused to comment until the Chilcot report is published.