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Oxfordshire Inquests

Volume 458: debated on Thursday 29 March 2007

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence and I wish to make the following statement to the House about the inquests of servicemen and women who have died overseas which fall within the jurisdiction of the Oxfordshire coroner, Nicholas Gardiner.

All casualties suffered by the UK armed forces are a source of profound regret. UK service personnel have put their lives on the line to help build strong, stable and democratic nations and protect the interests of the United Kingdom and we cannot pay high enough tribute to the job they are doing, or the sacrifice some of them have made. We are committed to assisting the families of UK Service personnel who have died on operations overseas when their loved ones are returned to the UK.

We made statements to the House on 5 June, 12 October and 18 December with information about the conduct of inquests by the Oxfordshire coroner and today we are announcing progress which has been made since the written ministerial statement in December.

Background

Coroners are independent judicial officers appointed and paid for by the relevant local authority. Their officers and staff are employed by the local authority and/or the police.

Each death of a serviceman or woman killed in an operation overseas whose body is repatriated to England and Wales is subject to an inquest. The inquest – both the investigation into the death and the holding of the public hearing into the death – is conducted by the coroner with jurisdiction which derives from where the body lies. In the case of deaths of servicemen and women whose bodies are flown into Brize Norton military airbase, the Oxfordshire coroner has jurisdiction.

In the 12 months preceding the June written ministerial statement, in addition to the non-armed forces inquests which the coroner has in his jurisdiction, Mr Gardiner and his deputy coroners had conducted 31 inquests into the deaths of servicemen who died in Iraq. One inquest was dealt with by the Powys coroner and one by the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner.

At the time of the 5 June written ministerial statement, there remained 59 inquests to be concluded into the deaths of service personnel killed in Iraq and 11 inquests of civilians whose bodies were flown into Brize Norton.

At the time of the 12 October written ministerial statement, a further nine inquests had been held into the deaths of servicemen who have died in Iraq.

When I made the written ministerial statement in June, we had only asked the coroner to provide details of inquests into those deaths in his jurisdiction relating to Iraq. By the time of the October statement the coroner had provided us with details of outstanding inquests into six deaths from previous conflicts or other military exercises abroad and three further civilian casualties, the earliest of which occurred in 1998. The position in relation to the inquests in these additional deaths was reported to the House in the 12 October statement. Including these deaths, there remained 59 inquests to be concluded into the deaths of service personnel and 11 inquests into the deaths of civilians at the time of the October statement.

By the time of the December written ministerial statement, the coroner had provided us with details of outstanding inquests into six deaths from a military exercise in the Czech Republic in 2004. Including these deaths, there remained 48 inquests to be concluded into the deaths of service personnel and nine inquests into the deaths of civilians who lost their lives in Iraq and whose bodies were repatriated to RAF Brize Norton.

As of today, there remain 25 inquests to be concluded into the deaths of service personnel in military conflicts and exercises overseas whose bodies were repatriated to RAF Brize Norton and 4 inquests into the deaths of civilians who lost their lives in Iraq and whose bodies were repatriated to RAF Brize Norton.

Further support for the coroner to conduct inquests on deceased armed forces personnel

As we reported to the House in the earlier statements, the Oxfordshire coroner appointed the following as additional assistant deputy coroners to assist with conducting the inquests detailed above:

Sir Richard Curtis—who served as a High Court Judge between 1992 and 2005, was appointed on 8 August.

Ms. Selena Lynch—barrister at law, former full-time Coroner for Inner South London and currently deputy coroner for South London was appointed on 5 June.

Mr. Andrew Walker—barrister at law, Deputy Coroner for both North London and East London and Assistant Deputy Coroner for both Inner London North and Inner London South was appointed on 5 June.

To provide support for the coroner and his assistant deputy coroners, the following resources have been made available:

Three additional coroner’s officers, Mr. Geoff Webb, Mr. George Gatt and Mr. Derrick Bines have been appointed by Thames Valley Police to support the existing complement of five officers and one officer’s team leader in the Oxfordshire coroner’s office. They are supporting the coroners in various ways, including by contacting witnesses, listing inquests and providing support at inquests.

An additional administrative assistant, Ms. Stella Hartley-Morris has been appointed to the existing administrative assistant in the Oxfordshire coroner’s office who provide administrative support for the investigations and inquests.

Recording equipment—to enable two courts to operate simultaneously.

Progress with the remaining inquests

At the time of the December written ministerial statement, all inquests of deaths had been allocated to the assistant deputy coroners. 19 inquests had been held (the WMS mistakenly stated 18 inquests) the inquest into the death of Sergeant Roberts was currently being held and a further 50 inquests had been listed for hearing (the WMS mistakenly reported 51 inquests).

The position now is that 56 inquests have been held, 46 into the deaths of servicemen and 10 into the deaths of civilians. All of the remaining 25 inquests into servicemen’s deaths have been listed for hearing and pre-inquest hearings have been set in the remaining four civilian inquests. We hope that all the inquests will have been heard by the end of June. We are very grateful for the efforts of all those involved.

We shall continue to keep the House informed on a quarterly basis about progress through the remaining inquests. Below is a table, which outlines the status of all cases and the date of death of each case.

We have not included in this statement inquests into a further 66 service personnel deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan which occurred after 15 May 2006 and which were repatriated into Brize Norton, as the additional support for the coroner outlined above only intended to clear the backlog of cases he had in June. 16 of these cases have been dispersed to other coroners but there remain 50 inquests where the Oxfordshire coroner has retained jurisdiction which have been opened and adjourned.

Resources have now been made available to the Oxfordshire Coroner to enable Andrew Walker to remain as assistant deputy coroner with Geoff Webb as coroner’s officer to complete those inquests where the Oxfordshire coroner assumed responsibility.

Liaison with the next of kin

It is of the greatest importance that the next of kin have full information about the progress on the inquest of their deceased next of kin.

In order to further improve the service to families I invited to meet me on 4 December 2006 the families of service personnel who died in Iraq whose inquests had been held. We are grateful to the 17 relatives of the 12 deceased servicemen and women who gave us the benefit of their views and experiences so as to improve the inquest system for the benefit of future families of members of the armed service who die abroad.

Following that meeting we are working on providing families with better information about the inquest system, how we can help families to have access to all material relevant to the inquest; and holding inquests closer to where the relatives live.

Oxfordshire coroner: inquests of servicemen and related civilian deaths 1998 to May 2006

Date of death

Name of deceased

Allocated to

In process of being listed for hearing

Date listed

Date inquest heard

1

6 July 1998

Kevin Tucker1

Andrew Walker

26 February 2007 Narrative verdict

2

11 August 1998

Michael Watkins1

Andrew Walker

18 January 2007 Narrative verdict

3

9 April 2001

Flight Lieutenant Maguire1

Andrew Walker

22-26 January 2007 Narrative verdicts

4

9 April 2001

Captain Crous1

Andrew Walker

5

21 March 2003

Lance Bombardier Evans

Andrew Walker

16 April 2007

6

21 March 2003

Sergeant Hehir

Andrew Walker

7

21 March 2003

Major Ward (Royal Marines)

Andrew Walker

8

21 March 2003

Captain Guy (Royal Marines)

Andrew Walker

9

21 March 2003

Warrant Officer 2 Stratford (Royal Marines)

Andrew Walker

10

21 March 2003

Colour Sergeant Cecil (Royal Marines)

Andrew Walker

11

21 March 2003

Marine Hedenskog

Andrew Walker

12

21 March 2003

Operator Maintainer (Communications) 1 Seymour (Royal Navy)

Andrew Walker

13

22 March 2003

Lieutenant Wilson

Sir Richard Curtis

3-8 January 2007 Accidental death verdicts

14

22 March 2003

Lieutenant West

Sir Richard Curtis

15

22 March 2003

Lieutenant Green

Sir Richard Curtis

16

22 March 2003

Lieutenant Williams

Sir Richard Curtis

17

22 March 2003

Lieutenant King

Sir Richard Curtis

18

22 March 2003

Lieutenant Lawrence

Sir Richard Curtis

19

22 March 2003

Flight Lieutenant Main

Andrew Walker

30-31 October 2006 Narrative verdicts

20

22 March 2003

Flight Lieutenant Williams

Andrew Walker

21

22 March 2003

Sapper Allsopp

Andrew Walker

29 September 2006 Unlawful killing

22

22 March 2003

Staff Sergeant Cullingworth

Andrew Walker

23

22 March 2003

Terry Lloyd2

Andrew Walker

3-13 October 2006 Unlawful killing

24

24 March 2003

Sergeant Roberts

Andrew Walker

11-15 December 2006 Narrative verdict

25

25 March 2003

Corporal Allbutt

Andrew Walker

16 April 2007 (provisional) PIH in w/c/ 16 April 2007

26

28 March 2003

Lance Corporal of Horse Hull

Andrew Walker

29 January to 2 February 2007 and 12-13 March 2007 Unlawful killing

27

30 March 2003

Lance Corporal Brierley

Nicholas Gardiner

21 June 2006 Accidental death

28

30 March 2003

Marine Maddison

Andrew Walker

20 November 2006 Narrative verdict

29

30 March 2003

Major Ballard

Andrew Walker

27-30 November 2006 Narrative verdict

30

1 April 2003

Lance Corporal Shearer

Selena Lynch

24-26 January 2007 Accidental death

31

6 April 2003

Fusilier Turrington

Andrew Walker

28 September 2006 Narrative verdict

32

6 April 2003

Private Muzvuru

Selena Lynch

17 November 2006 Killed in action

33

6 April 2003

Lance Corporal Malone

Selena Lynch

17 November 2006 Killed in action

34

13 August 2003

Private Smith

Andrew Walker

6-10 November 2006 Narrative verdict

35

23 September 2003

Sergeant Nightingale

Andrew Walker

27 September 2006 Narrative verdict

36

1 January 2004

Sergeant Patterson

Selena Lynch

17 November 2006 Accidental death

37

1 January 2004

Major Stenner

38

2 January 2004

Lance Corporal Craw

Andrew Walker

8 January 2007 Narrative verdict

39

24 May 2004

Robert Morgan2

Nicholas Gardiner

5 July 2006 Unlawful killing

40

24 May 2004

Mark Carman2

Nicholas Gardiner

5 July 2006 Unlawful killing

41

22 June 2006

Antonio Jose Monteiro-Abelha2

Andrew Walker

PIH in w/e 16 April 2007

42

28 June 2004

Fusilier Gentle

Selena Lynch

2-4. May 2007

43

19 July 2004

Flight Lieutenant Gover

Andrew Walker

4 June 2007

44

9 August 2004

Private O’Callaghan

Nicholas Gardiner

21 June 2006 Unlawful killing

45

9 September 2004

Captain Loose1

Andrew Walker

23 April 2007

46

Sergeant Kemp1

47

Gunner Kelly1

48

Gunner Crain1

49

Gunner Gomersall1

50

Gunner Dimmock1

51

11 October 2004

P Chadwick2

Selena Lynch

19.-21 February 2007 Accident

52

31 October 2004

Staff Sergeant Rose

Selena Lynch

13-15 November 2006 She killed herself

53

7 November 2004

Shaun Paul Husband2

Andrew Walker

PIH in w/c 16 April 2007

54

7 November 2004

Joseph Terry2

55

8 November 2004

Private Tukutukuwaqa

Nicholas Gardiner

5 July 2006 Unlawful killing

56

9 December 2004

Raj Gurung2

Andrew Walker

PIH in w/c/ 16 April 2007

57

1 January 2005

John Dolman2

Selena Lynch

26 February 2007 Unlawful killing verdicts

58

1 January 2005

Nicholas Pears2

59

1 January 2005

John Eardley2

60

1 January 2005

Tracy Hushin2

61

1 May 2005

Guardsman Wakefield

Selena Lynch

11 December 2006 Unlawful killing

62

25 May 2005

Lance Corporal Brackenbury

Andrew Walker

14 May 2007

63

29 June 2005

Signaller Didsbury

Andrew Walker

15 January 2007 Narrative verdict

64

15 July 2005

Private Spicer

Selena Lynch

29 January 2007 Unlawful killing in all 3 cases

65

15 July 2005

Private Hewett

66

15 July 2005

2nd Lieutenant Shearer

67

30 July 2005

Kenneth Hull2

Selena Lynch

13 December 2006 Unlawful killing

68

30 July 2005

Andrew Holloway2

69

5 September 2005

Fusilier Manning

Selena Lynch

15 November 2006 Unlawful killing

70

5 September 2005

Fusilier Meade

71

30 January 2006

Lance Corporal Douglas

Selena Lynch

17 November 2006 Unlawful killing

72

31 January 2006

Corporal Pritchard

Andrew Walker

21 May 2007

73

2 February 2006

Trooper Smith

Selena Lynch

23 February 2007 Accident on active service

74

28 February 2006

Private Ellis

Selena Lynch

27 November 2006 Unlawful killing

75

28 February 2006

Captain Holmes

76

28 February 2006

Lieutenant Palmer

Andrew Walker

21 May 2007

77

22 March 2006

Corporal Cridge1

Selena Lynch

22 February 2007 Suicide

78

27 March 2006

Lance Corporal Craddock1

Selena Lynch

22 February 2007 Accident

79

7 May 2006

Wing Commander John Coxen

Andrew Walker

21 May 2007

80

7 May 2006

Lieutenant Commander Darren Chapman

81

7 May 2006

Captain David Dobson

82

7 May 2006

Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill

83

7 May 2006

Marine Paul Collins

84

15 May 2006

Private Morris

Selena Lynch

14 March 2007 Both unlawfully killed while on active service

1 Non-Iraq related military death.

2 Civilian Iraq related death.