Chinook families urge Andy Burnham to launch new review into 1994 RAF tragedy
The Chinook Justice Campaign group has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as the defence secretary and victims minister.
The families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook disaster are calling on the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to order a fresh review into the tragedy.
The bereaved families also want Mr Burnham to meet with them within his first 100 days in office and honour his pledge to end “cover-up culture”.
Earlier this month a High Court judge ruled that the families of the victims killed in the helicopter crash could not bring a legal claim against the Ministry of Defence.
All 29 serving military personnel aboard the Chinook HC-2 helicopter died after it crashed into the Mull of Kintyre in 1994. It had been transporting 25 intelligence experts and four special crew from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George in the Highlands.
The crash, which has been described as the “RAF’s worst peacetime disaster”, was initially blamed on pilot error, but a 2011 inquiry found this was incorrect.
The Chinook Justice Campaign group said the MoD’s “ongoing failure” to conduct an “independent and effective investigation” into the crash was a breach of human rights, and took their legal action to the High Court in London.
They said the legal challenge should be allowed to continue as information relating to the Chinook’s airworthiness “raises a more than arguable claim that … those individuals who died in the crash were placed on an aircraft known to be unsafe”.
However, the MoD argued the challenge had been brought to the courts too late, and Justice Butcher agreed and blocked the case from proceeding.
Mr Burnham referenced the Chinook campaign during his speech to the House of Commons on the new Hillsborough Law just days before becoming Prime Minister.
Hillsborough Law, which was unanimously backed by MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month, would create a legally enforceable duty of candour compelling public officials and authorities to act transparently when investigations and inquiries take place.
Matt Tobias, son of Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias MBE who was killed in the crash, said: “We congratulate Andy Burnham on becoming Prime Minister and wish him every success in office.
“We also welcome the new defence secretary and the victims minister back to government, both of whom strongly support the new duty of candour on public bodies.
“Mr Burnham’s speech in the House of Commons, in which he spoke about ending Britain’s cover-up culture and strengthening the duty of candour, gave our families real hope.
“We ask that he and his ministers give the Chinook families more respect than we received from his predecessor, who denied us a meeting and an inquiry - believing MoD lies instead.”
The campaign group is now taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights, but Mr Tobias said “we do not want years of further litigation”.
He said: “The Prime Minister has the power to prevent that by ordering a fresh independent review.
“We would urge Mr Burnham to meet us within his first 100 days in office so we can present the evidence that has emerged over recent years and explain why we believe a fresh review, independent of the MoD, is now essential.
“Mr Burnham spent years standing alongside families failed by the state. We hope he now lives up to the commitments he has made and shows that those principles apply equally to the Chinook families.
“After 32 years, we are not asking for special treatment. We are simply asking for the truth.”
Families in the Chinook Justice Campaign group have now written to the Prime Minister urging him to open an independent review into the MoD, including full access to all relevant documents regarding the helicopter’s airworthiness.
In their letter, they said: “Throughout your career you have argued that the state should never use its power to frustrate families seeking the truth.
“We respectfully suggest that the Chinook case now presents the first opportunity for your government to demonstrate those principles in practice and should be the test case for the Hillsborough Law.”
The campaign is being supported by former Conservative defence secretary Sir Liam Fox, who has separately written to Mr Burnham urging him to resolve the Chinook Justice Campaign group’s case.
Sir Liam said: “There is undoubtedly a feeling amongst the public that there are too many instances where vested interests have protected themselves rather than serving the public or justice including Hillsborough, the infected blood scandal, the Post Office scandal and the recent case where M95 lied to the courts.
“Getting justice for the families of those killed in the Chinook tragedy would set an excellent tone for your premiership.”
The Chinook Justice Campaign group has also written to the new Defence Secretary Wes Streeting urging him to “begin correcting the mistakes of your predecessors”, and have requested that Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones personally take up their case.
When the campaign group took their case to the High Court in London, they claimed the crash happened just days after the “fraught upgrade and introduction” of the helicopter, and said the MoD was suing Boeing over the upgrade before the crash happened.
Sam Jacobs from the campaign group said the engine control system on the helicopter was described as having a "density of deficiencies”, and one of the engines needed to be replaced three times in the months leading up to the fatal accident, alongside issues reported on the second engine.
Mr Jacobs said: “It is plainly arguable that airworthiness caused the crash - indeed, arguable that the HC-2 should not have been flying at all.”
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