A 16-year-old soldier shot dead for being a deserter in the First World War was the subject of a documentary shown on Channel Four on Monday night (June 14).

Private Abe Bevistein, a Polish-Jewish immigrant from Mill Hill, who was part of the 11th battalion of the Middlesex regiment, was shot dead by firing squad after being left shell shocked by a grenade explosion.

"It's a shocking tale that had tragic consequences," said Elizabeth Cosslett, of the show's production company Testimony Films, behind the Secret History: Britain's Boy Soldiers programme.

"And it's a story that deserves more prominence."

Mr Bevistein, a Polish Jew, joined the British Army aged 16 claiming to be 19 and giving his surname as Harris.

After being left shell shocked by a grenade blast, he went into hiding and, as a result, was shot by firing squad at Labourse, near Calais, on March 20, 1916.

His story was dramatised in Tuesday's show, with Josh Maguire playing him.

Mr Bevistein was one of 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers shot at dawn for offences such as desertion, sleeping on duty and disobedience, before British military law changed in 1929.

Doreen Jansen, a member of the Shot At Dawn Campaign, said: "Abe's story is still so poignant, and has taken on new relevance when you look at the atrocities happening in the world today."

It is hoped that the documentary will help to further the long-running campaign, led by Shot At Dawn, for a posthumous pardon for many of the boy soldiers.