Retired major spends £75k to fight extradition to Peru over fatal crash that wasn’t his fault
A retired Army major who was involved in a fatal car crash in Peru is fighting extradition to face homicide charges. John Winskill – who suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder after exhuming bodies in Bosnia with Nato – is now battling the condition again because of the stress he is suffering. He is also faced with trying to raise enough money to defend himself if he faces court action in South America, which could result in a six-year jail term. to date, he and his wife have spent £75,000 on lawyers after using their savings and borrowing money from friends and family. the 47-year-old former royal Scots officer had volunteered to help with a charity rally when disaster struck in 2013. the charity he was working for did not have legal insurance – despite telling him it was in place – which would have paid for his costly lawyers. He said: ‘i am absolutely livid. First, i am not guilty and know i can prove it. Second, i am now losing our family savings which feels like death by a thousand cuts. Finally, the men behind the charity for whom i was a volunteer had a duty of care and they have failed me.’ Major Winskill has now had to launch an online funding appeal on Gofundme.com, which has raised around £20,000. Meanwhile the Peruvian authorities have painted a picture of him as a man fleeing justice and have refused to hear his defence arguments. Major Winskill was a volunteer when he travelled with the race2recovery charity – which has been backed by Princes William and Harry – to work in a support role at the dakar rally. the event saw both UK and US veterans taking part in the 5,500mile race across South America, which was moved from its original route of Paris to dakar for security reasons. But five days into his adventure on January 9 he was driving a Land rover when he literally ran into trouble. An impatient driver tried to overtake the convoy he was in and then sharply cut in when he saw oncoming traffic. Major Winskill braked but a following vehicle hit the back of the former soldier’s Land rover and pushed it into oncoming traffic, causing a head- on crash with a taxi. the collision saw the taxi driver and one of his five passengers killed, while Major Winskill and two others in the Land rover were badly injured. While they were being treated in hospital, an angry mob of around 300 Peruvians arrived looking for the ‘english driver’ and police and the army were called to hold back what was described as a potential
‘They want a scapegoat’
lynching. in hospital Major Winskill found a woman from the interior ministry forcing his thumb onto an ‘ink pad’ and trying to place his thumb on a prepared statement that he had never given. it was later ruled inadmissible at a court hearing. After five days in hospital in Lima he was brought back to the UK. ten months after the crash he was told that Peruvian authorities were ‘still working’ on the cause of the crash. But his nightmare returned in January this year when British police knocked on the door of his home near Salisbury to advise he was facing extradition to Peru. the visit was a complete shock for Major Winskill and his wife Lisa, 44, who have two young children. ‘i never fled from Peru – i was signed out of hospital and flown out of the country,’ he said. they ‘ had all my contact details but i assumed they realised i was not at fault. Now it seems they want a scapegoat.’ the authorities in Peru have demanded he returns to face two counts of negligent homicide and four counts of negligent wounding – relating to the four passengers in the taxi who survived the crash. An independent Peruvian crash investigator has found the former soldier was not at fault for the accident. the daily Mail has learned that the race2recovery charity ceased existing in 2014 before re-inventing itself as r2r with at least one of the previous trustees. the Charity Commission has launched an investigation into race2recovery, which they believe could be in breach of rules having not informed them of the fatal accident. the daily Mail contacted r2r and main trustee Charles Sincock, but neither were prepared to comment. the Foreign Office said it was offering Major Winskill consular assistance, ‘ but that cannot include representation in court, nor with the courts in Peru’.