Former defence secretary Sir Liam Fox has called for a fresh inquiry into the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash, suggesting that the MOD and the RAF may have misled two previous inquiries into the tragedy.
Four crew and 25 passengers were killed when the RAF Chinook HC-2 helicopter hit a hillside near the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse. Those on board included MI5 officers, members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, British Army personnel, and four Special Forces crew members.
On Tuesday 2 June – exactly 32 years after the disaster – Sir Liam met the victims' families outside Number 10, delivering a hand-written letter addressed to the Prime Minister.
Within its pages, it asked for a swift and focused inquiry – independent of the Ministry of Defence – to get the truth into the exact cause of the tragedy on record at last.
Demanding the truth
Speaking to reporters just after he had handed in the letter, Sir Liam said: "We want there to be an overview of the whole of tragedy, not just the immediate cause of the crash, which was looked into, or the pilots' responsibility, and they obviously were cleared.
"But what was the sequence of events that led up to this? We want Sir Keir to set up a mechanism of looking into the whole issue with people who will be qualified to look at all the data.
"We want the inquiry to be guaranteed access to all the information that we require, so that we can produce for once a complete narrative that sets out, in detail, all the decision-making points and how they were taken.
"The families feel that they have never been given the whole story at any one point, that bits of it have been looked into. And what they want is truth, and they want closure.
"There's an opportunity now for the Prime Minister who, let's face it, has had a politically difficult period, to show his lawyerly instincts for natural justice."
Sir Liam's inquiry in 2011 concluded that an initial decision to blame pilots Flight Lieutenants Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper was incorrect.
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by BFBS Forces News, the Chinook Justice Campaign says the documents showed how the MOD had sought to make scapegoats of the pilots and wanted to close down any alternative explanations for the cause of the crash.
It was evidence from FOI requests that prompted calls for a further inquiry.
'We'll carry on fighting'
In his letter, Sir Liam said he had "deep concerns" that "vital information may have been withheld from ministers and Parliament", and that information provided by the MOD "on the airworthiness of the aircraft was not correct".
Gaynor Tobias, 75, from Watford, whose husband, Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias, died in the crash, attended Downing Street.
She told Press Association: "It would be tremendous to put this to bed. We don't feel we can move on with all this dishonesty and deceit. We would like the Government to not be so intransigent, to work with us.
"Perhaps an apology would be nice, and we would like to know this won't happen to any other family again. We'll carry on fighting. We're a strong group.
"We had a meeting with three ministers in December, who said that they would enter into dialogue with us. Unfortunately, when it came to March, we hadn't heard anything from them. It made us a little bit disappointed because we didn't really feel that they had listened to us."
Her son Andy Tobias, 40, said: "We have huge amounts of evidence. We're going to continue to fight to have that evidence reviewed by the right people, and the truth always comes out.
"It's been very positive to come to here today. We really, really hope that the Prime Minister will listen, and we hope that we'll get an opportunity to get to the truth and justice for my father."
Shan Gregory-Smith, whose husband Richard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Intelligence Corps and commanding officer in Northern Ireland, was killed in the crash, joined the families and Sir Liam at Number 10.
"We are delighted that Sir Liam is with us here today in Downing Street, delivering his letter to the Prime Minister and calling for a fresh review into the crash," she said.
"Thirty-two years after the crash, we should not still be fighting for answers. Sir Liam thinks he was misled and there was a cover-up.
"We have the evidence there was a cover-up, We hope the Prime Minister will agree to this fresh inquiry, will meet us urgently, and get us the truth and justice we deserve."
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