Relatives of 1994 Chinook crash sufferers begin felony motion towards MoD

Relatives of intelligence officials and army staff killed in a 1994 RAF helicopter crash at the Mull of Kintyre have taken step one in felony motion towards the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Twenty-nine other folks – together with officials from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the military, together with the helicopter’s particular forces staff – died after RAF Chinook ZD576 crashed in foggy climate in south-west Scotland on 2 June 1994.

Now, 31 years to the day, attorneys appearing professional bono for the bereaved have issued the MoD with a “letter before action”, observed through the Guardian.

The letter officially informs the MoD of the Chinook Justice Campaign’s goal to use for a judicial assessment of the verdict to not grasp a public inquiry into cases of the crash, mentioning article 2 of the Human Rights Act, which protects the proper to existence. It urges the secretary of state for defence, John Healey, to start out an inquiry “without further delay”, giving him 14 days to reply.

Last week the Guardian reported the households’ call for, in an open letter to the federal government, for the complete unencumber of archive paperwork which have been locked away till 2094 through the MoD. Their attorneys consider a public judge-led inquiry would have complete get entry to to subject matter that earlier investigations have no longer been in a position to imagine.

Mark Stephens, of the regulation company Howard Kennedy, mentioned: “The government has a legal obligation to answer the families. Thirty-one years on, there can be no operational reasons for secrecy and the only way to find out the truth is with a judge-led inquiry where the judge can review the so-called ‘secret’ material and answer the multitude of questions that are left begging.”

Stephens mentioned the households and their felony suggest had observed “more than enough evidence” to persuade them the “aircraft should never have taken off”.

The most up-to-date assessment, through Lord Philip in 2011, set out protection issues however concluded the reason for the crash used to be not going to be ever recognized, whilst exonerating the helicopter’s overdue pilots, Flt Lts Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, who have been discovered accountable of “gross negligence” through the RAF 17 years previous.

Esme Sparks, from County Durham, whose father, Maj Gary Sparks, used to be killed within the crash, mentioned: “We don’t want to have to take legal action against the government, but we do want and need answers. What is being hidden? In our view, a public inquiry is key.”

Andy Tobias, who used to be 8 when his father, Lt Col John Tobias, 41, used to be killed, mentioned: “It’s clear to me that a complete lack of duty of care was given to those passengers because they got on a Chinook that wasn’t fit for flight.

“And really, the government need to show their duty of candour and really be open and transparent about what’s in those documents and give us the opportunity to really understand anything that’s in them that could give us more answers about what happened.”

On Sunday, households attended a non-public commemoration on the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Describing the crash as “a tragic accident”, an MoD spokesperson prior to now mentioned: “Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died.”