David Batty and agencies
Guardian Unlimited
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 Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed on patrol in Basra on June 28, 2004. Photograph: MoD Crown Copyright/PA Wire |
A coroner today condemned the Ministry of Defence for obstructing inquests into the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq.The damning criticism by Selena Lynch, assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, came as she ruled that army logistics failures led to the unlawful killing of 19-year-old soldier Gordon Gentle in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq.
Ms Lynch said it had taken three years to conclude her investigation due to the MoD’s “illogical” policy of disclosure in investigations of soldiers’ deaths in Iraq.
Ms Lynch said bomb-disabling equipment that could have saved Gentle’s life when his Land Rover was attacked had not been supplied to his regiment, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (RHF).
She said: “It is more likely than not that the bomb would not have detonated had Element B [a bomb jamming kit] been fitted.”
Electronic counter-measures (ECMs), to be fitted to vehicles, were available for collection by the Royal Fusiliers on June 16, two weeks before Gentle’s death on June 28 2004.
But a communications breakdown meant the kit was not collected until after he was killed.
The coroner said the army’s in-theatre supply chain “appeared chaotic and lacking in clarity”.
Ms Lynch said she had been obstructed in her efforts to tackle a backlog of military inquests, including Gentle’s, because of problems getting information from the military.
She said: “The MoD have a policy of disclosure that I would argue is both illogical and based on faulty points of law.”
The coroner said her investigation into Gentle’s death had been one of her first priorities when she was appointed but it had taken three years to complete due to the MoD’s attitude.
“Disclosure to the family has been unnecessarily limited,” said Ms Lynch.
She complained that all the names of people mentioned in documents provided by the MoD had been blacked out and replaced with a code. But a key to the code was not provided until a week before the inquest.
She said: “This caused an enormous amount of wasted effort and money.”
Following the verdict, the dead soldier’s mother, Rose, said: “Justice has been done. The truth has come out.
“I fought for that. I said I wouldn’t give up and I didn’t. My son should be here today. They have deprived me of a beautiful son and deprived two sisters of their brother.
“I’m proud of Gordon but I am disgusted at the way he was treated.
“They say when you join the army, it’s a brilliant career. At the same time, you should be looked after.”
An MoD spokesman said: “Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the family, friends and colleagues of Fusilier Gordon Gentle at this difficult time.
“We were immensely saddened at his loss through an attack by insurgents in Basra in June 2004 and we deeply regret the series of events that contributed to it.”