US top brass in ‘cover-up’ over death of Scots soldier in Iraq
Widow tells of fight for justice, 2 years on
‘We want US to be open about what happened’
THE US military was last night accused of a ‘cover-up’ over the death of a Scottish soldier in Iraq.
Captain Dean Sprouting, who served with the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed by a forklift truck driven by an American soldier at Al Asad air base in January 2018.
The 46-year-old’s widow, Linda, claims the US failed to carry out a proper investigation into his death and withheld information from her.
Her spokesman, Radd Seiger, who also represents crash victim Harry Dunn’s family, has now written to the head of the UK’s armed forces, General Sir Nick Carter, asking him to intervene in the case.
In his letter to the Chief of the Defence Staff, Mr Seiger said the behaviour of the US military had been ‘unconscionable’. He wrote: ‘The fact the Americans took themselves off, investigated themselves, absolved themselves and then failed to have the decency to attend the inquest touching Dean’s death, is of course absurd and wrong in law. After 29 years of dedicated, committed and loyal service, he and his family deserved better.’
Mr Seiger told the Daily Mail: ‘The American investigation was full of redactions and does not tell you anything.
‘It raises suspicions and makes someone like Linda wonder, “Hang on a minute, what are they covering up?” That’s exactly what I believe is happening.’
Captain Sprouting was stationed in Al Asad as part of a counter-Islamic State training mission.
He was only three weeks into his six-month tour in western Iraq when he was crushed by a forklift truck driven by a US National Guardsman while out jogging on a sanctioned route at the base.
Both the US soldier driving the forklift, Sgt Steven Gray, and his colleague driving an escort vehicle, Sgt Joel Miller, failed to turn up to his inquest in Oxford.
The coroner was told a British Army major believed the two men should have faced charges including homicide, gross negligence and manslaughter.
However, the inquest heard a US brigadier general had ruled that all charges against the men should be dropped. Mrs Sprouting, 47, of Denny, Stirlingshire, said the US military refused to disclose full details on the tragedy, leaving parts of the report redacted.
She said: ‘We just want the US to be open and transparent about what happened.’
She added there had been a ‘catalogue of errors’, including the fact the wipers on the lead vehicle were stuck in a fixed position in the middle of the driver’s view.
Mrs Sprouting believes the Ministry of Defence used the fact the scene was not the UK’s jurisdiction as a ‘get out clause’ and failed to push for a proper investigation.
She said: ‘We now feel abandoned and let down by the MoD.’
Calling for a UK-led independent investigation, she said: ‘I am not after retribution, it is about identifying mistakes made to prevent this from happen again.’
She said her family were unable to grieve properly. ‘Two-and-a-half years down the line we are still fighting for justice,’ she said.
A spokesman for the campaign and support group Justice 4 Troops, which is helping her, said: ‘To meet Linda two months ago, to realise that the widow of a soldiers who followed our flag had been left abandoned by our country for over two years, was truly distressing to us.’
A MoD spokesman said: ‘An inquest and service inquiry, conducted by UK authorities, have been carried out to fully understand the circumstances around this incident, which was found to be a tragic accident.’