Chinook crash families to continue bid for answers

Families who lost loved ones in an RAF helicopter crash say they hope a new law will help them get answers, after their call for a fresh review into what happened was blocked.

A Chinook helicopter carrying 25 passengers and four crew crashed in the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland in 1994, killing everyone on board.

A High Court judge said a legal challenge was brought forward too late.

The Wiltshire-based son of one of the victims said the Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC) would ask the government for an inquiry by using the Hillsborough Law, which is designed to be used to prevent cover-ups linked to failures of the state. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) said it "respected" the court's decision.

Niven Phoenix, son of Det Supt Ian Phoenix, said the court's ruling was effectively saying "if there is a cover up, you need to find out about a cover up sooner rather than later".

He said it was "ironic" to receive the High Court's ruling on the same day the Hillsborough Law, which imposes a duty on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and co-operate with official investigations and inquiries, cleared the House of Commons.

"If they [the government] are serious about the Hillsborough Law, and this is a prime example of lack of duty of candour, they can set aside the findings of the court and they could essentially give us an inquiry independent of the MOD should they wish. That is within their gift," he added.

The crash was first investigated by an internal Board of Inquiry in 1995, which concluded that there was an error on the part of the pilots, Flight Lieutenant Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper.

In 2011, the Mull of Kintyre Review exonerated the pilots involved from blame, but did not give a conclusion on the cause of death.

Somerset-based Pip Hesketh lost her cousin, crew member Graham Forbes, in the crash.

"The suggestion that we are out of time on a technicality is insulting and cruelly ironic given the extent we have been prevented from understanding what happened leading up to the crash," she said.

Hesketh said key files had been classified for as long as 100 years, while families had been forced to wait years for servicemen to leave the RAF because they were barred from speaking out about the Chinook's airworthiness while still in the military.

An MOD spokesperson said: "We respect the decision of the court and thank them for their work in considering this difficult case.

"We will continue to engage with the CJC and will not be offering any further comment at this time."

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