The new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government has reacted to a move from north-east Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell by announcing that there will be another look at issues surrounding the catastrophic RAF Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.
Sir Menzies’ success came after he had faxed the office of the new defence secretary, Liam Fox, to indicate that he intended to raise the issue during Wednesday’s parliamentary session.
Mr Fox told MPs that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is looking at the best way to undertake an independent review and that the Conservatives would live up to the promise they made in opposition.
For years there have been questions over the findings of the board of inquiry which held two RAF pilots, Flight Lieutenant Jonathan Tapper and Flight Lieutenant Richard Cook, to have been guilty of gross negligence in the crash.
The accident killed 29 people. Both pilots died along with the flight engineer and crew chief and some of the most senior SAS and MI5 counter-terrorist officers, including the head of the Special Branch in Northern Ireland.
Since then the families of the two officers have fought to clear their names.
Sir Menzies had written to Mr Fox to say that he, along with many members of both Houses of Parliament, had been concerned about the outcome of the inquiry.
The findings came, he said in the letter, in circumstances where it can be argued that the high standard of proof required before such a finding could be made under RAF regulations was not met.
Sir Menzies said that in January 2002 there had been a special select committee of the House of Lords under the chairmanship of the late Lord Jauncey, one of Scotland’s most distinguished judges of recent times.No evidenceThis, he said, reached a conclusion which mirrored the outcome of the fatal accident inquiry (FAI) previously held in Scotland and presided over by Sheriff (now Sheriff Principal) Sir Stephen Young in 1996.
The FAI concluded that there was no evidence to support the RAF’s findings against the pilots.
Sir Menzies said that a number of members of both houses had pursued the matter with vigour and that he, along with others, had attended meetings with defence secretaries and even Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The MP wrote, “It is thought in some quarters that to re-open this matter is somehow to imply bad faith on the part of senior officers of the Royal Air Force. I would expressly disassociate myself from any such charge.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that all concerned in this matter have acted in good faith but that an error of interpretation of the relevant regulations was made.”
He asked Mr Fox to instigate a review of the board of inquiry by whatever means seems appropriate.
Sir Menzies’ action bore immediate fruit on Wednesday and he told The Courier that during the debate Mr Fox intervened to say that there would be a review and the precise details were still being considered.
The north-east Fife MP said, “I am delighted that the new defence secretary has approached this with an open mind and has agreed to a further review.
“Many of us feel that a genuine error has been made and that the interpretation of the RAF’s own regulations at the time has been wrong.”‘Justice will be achieved’Former shadow home secretary David Davis said on Wednesday that at long last there would be an independent review of a decision which has harmed the reputation and character of two brave and skilful young pilots.
He said, “This inquiry should be led by a judge, should be given access to all the documentation and witnesses and should be held in public.
“I am confident that if this is done then at long last justice will be achieved.”
Liberal Democrat Mike Hancock, a member of the defence select committee in the last parliament, said, “Those two young men who flew that plane that day deserve to have their reputations returned to them.
“That can only be done if there is a proper independent inquiry and all the facts and information relating to that crash are put on the table.”
He added, “Without that, it’s a disgrace to the RAF, the MoD and this parliament that those two young men’s lives and careers were besmirched by the findings of the RAF board.”
The law officer who initially investigated the Chinook crash, the then Campbeltown procurator fiscal Iain Henderson, described the conclusions of the MoD inquiry as “ridiculous.”
He even claimed that the MoD had attempted to block his efforts to set up a fatal accident inquiry.
Photos used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr users shirokazan and Destinys Agent.