Justice has no expiry date: Why I believe there must be an inquiry into Chinook disaster
Telling bereaved families they are unable to get the truth after 32 years would pile injustice on top of a travesty of justice
Fifteen years ago, I sat alongside Lord Philip, Lord Forsyth and Baroness Helen Liddell on the review commissioned by then Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox into the RAF Chinook disaster on the Mull of Kintyre.
Our task was a narrow but important one. We were asked to examine whether the findings of gross negligence against Flight Lieutenants Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper could be justified.
As part of our deliberations, we boarded not one, but two helicopters to retrace some of the journey ZD576 took that fateful day in June 1994. It was a journey I shall never forget.
Having considered all the evidence, and the RAF’s own rules, the answer was clear.
Such a finding against the pilots could only stand if there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever. Yet doubt plainly existed. The fact that the review had been commissioned at all demonstrated that and so did the evidence before us. We concluded that the verdict against the pilots could not be sustained and their names were rightly cleared.
I and my fellow parliamentarians were pleased to be able to help right a wrong.
But it is equally important to recognise what we were not asked to do.
We were not tasked with establishing the cause of the crash, which will never be known. We were not asked to investigate the wider circumstances surrounding the disaster. Nor were we charged with examining why 29 people were permitted to board that particular aircraft on that particular day.
Those are different questions.
And 32 years later, I have been made aware of the families’ continuing concerns and believe these questions remain unanswered. I believe the families, who are seeking the truth, deserve to know.
Recent interventions by Sir Liam Fox and Baroness Helen Liddell and a sustained campaign from the families of those who died have inevitably highlighted justified alarm about these matters.
Sir Liam has written to the Prime Minister expressing concern that information relating to the airworthiness of the Chinook Mk2 may not have been fully understood by ministers and previous investigations. He has gone so far as to say he has "a strong enough belief" that a deliberate cover up has taken place.
Baroness Liddell has said she feels she and the public have been misled regarding the aircraft's airworthiness.
They have prompted renewed calls for a fresh review a view with which I concur.
The families have uncovered evidence which we were not told about. That the aircraft had been grounded the day before and had been unlawfully released to service. So many questions arise.
In addition, why were so many senior intelligence and security figures concentrated on a single flight on an aircraft with known issues? Were concerns raised at the time about the wisdom of that arrangement? And, most importantly, what did officials know about concerns surrounding the aircraft itself?
These are legitimate questions which the MoD must answer in order to give the families closure and peace.
The review established by Sir Liam Fox was simple, independent in its operation and remarkably cost-effective. It reached a clear conclusion without years of delay or vast expense.
A similarly focused review ordered by the Prime Minister, independent of the MoD, with access to all relevant information, papers and people, could examine these wider questions.
I do not believe this requires an open-ended inquiry lasting years and costing millions of pounds.
Nor do I believe that seeking answers is somehow incompatible with respecting the passage of time.
The families of those who died have lived with these questions for more than three decades. They are entitled to ask why their loved ones boarded an aircraft whose circumstances continue to be debated.
Truth and accountability do not have a shelf life. As Rick Cook’s late father pointed out justice has no expiry date.
That is why I also believe that the government’s lawyers should firmly set aside the argument that this case is time barred. There are ample precedents.
If there has been a cover-up it must be exposed. Telling bereaved families that they are unable to get to the truth because they’ve taken too long, would be piling injustice on top of a travesty of justice.
History has shown repeatedly that public confidence is strengthened, not weakened, when institutions are prepared to revisit difficult issues. The Hillsborough Law to which this government is committed will help to achieve transparency, where it is currently lacking.
The review on which I served corrected one injustice.
The time has come to consider whether another carefully constructed review might finally answer the questions that still distress the families of 29 victims.
Thirty-two years is a long time. But it is not too late to seek the truth.
Lord Bruce of Bennachie
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