MoD ‘still hasn’t apologised’ for Army Land Rover death
THE mother of a Scots soldier who died when his Snatch Land Rover was hit by a roadside bomb has said an apology from the Defence Secretary would be ‘too little too late’.
Rose Gentle, 52, lost her 19-yearold son Gordon in June 2004 when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under the lightly armoured vehicle while he was serving with the Royal Highland Fusiliers in Iraq.
In letters to at least three families, Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has admitted that bringing alternative ‘protected’ vehicles into service ‘could have saved lives’.
It came as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) paid out compensation to relatives of some troops killed in Iraq following a four-year legal battle.
Mrs Gentle said: ‘I’ve not received a letter of apology yet, and if I did it would be too little too late. I haven’t heard from the MoD ever since the inquest into Gordon’s death – and that was around ten years ago now.
‘They admitted liability for my son’s death but have never apologised directly to me.’
An inquiry last year found a string of MoD failings in the preparations for the Iraq War, including a delay in replacing the Snatch Land Rovers, which were dubbed ‘mobile coffins’ because of their ineffectiveness against IEDs.
At least 37 UK soldiers died in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan while travelling in them. They were finally replaced in 2008.
In 2007, an inquest into Fusilier Gentle’s death concluded it was ‘probable’ that the IED would not have detonated if the Land Rover had been fitted with an electronic countermeasures (ECM) device.
An ECM device did not reach the soldiers until after Fusilier Gentle, from the Pollok area of Glasgow, died. Mrs Gentle said her family has been made to suffer by the MoD and ‘doesn’t believe a word’ it puts down on paper.
She added: ‘If Gordon did not have the ECM on board then how many other soldiers did not have the correct equipment?’
Sue Smith, whose son Private Phillip Hewett, 21, died in a Snatch Land Rover in 2005, is among those who have received an apology from the MoD.
Mrs Gentle said she was happy for Mrs Smith, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, who she knows well.
After receiving the Defence Secretary’s letter in May, Mrs Smith said the apology was ‘bittersweet’, and told the BBC: ‘I’d like it to be that his death made a difference. He’s not just a casualty of Iraq.’
In his letter to her, the Defence Secretary wrote: ‘I am fully aware of the struggle you have had to bring this matter to court over the last decade and I recognise that this has had a significant impact on you and your family. The Government entirely accepts the findings of Sir John Chilcot in the Iraq Inquiry in relation to the Snatch Land Rover.’
He added: ‘I would like to express directly to you my deepest sympathies and apologise for the delay, resulting in decisions taken at the time in bringing into service alternative protected vehicles which could have saved lives.’
Families of Private Lee Ellis and Lance Corporal Kirk Redpath were among those who received a letter of apology and a settlement. It followed a lengthy legal battle,
‘It would be too little too late’
which saw the Supreme Court rule that the families could bring compensation claims under legislation covering negligence and human rights.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling in 2013, the MoD continued to contest the case. But following the publication of the findings of the Chilcot Inquiry in 2016, the MoD decided to settle the claims out of court and pay compensation.
The report found the MoD had known about the vehicle’s vulnerability for years.
The MoD said: ‘We offer our deepest sympathies and apologise for the delay in bringing into service alternative protected vehicles which could have saved lives.’