Why? Inquest wait goes on for families of dead soldiers

The Government has been accused of treating the families of dead servicemen with contempt and prolonging their agony by delaying inquests into their killings in Iraq.

For many grieving relatives, the coroner's court is their first chance to ask their own questions, while most insist it offers closure and a chance to move on.

But the families of almost two thirds of the 119 servicemen and women who have died in Iraq have not had inquests. Even the families of the first troops killed in the conflict, in a Sea Knight helicopter crash on 21 March 2003, have yet to have their day in court.

Ministers have repeatedly blamed a backlog at Oxford coroner's court as families were told that the inquests must be held there because the bodies were flown to RAF Brize Norton.

However, The Independent has learnt that the cases could easily have been transferred to other, less overloaded coroners, closer to the families' homes.

Last night, the Government was accused of bungling incompetence as a row erupted between the department responsible and the Oxford coroner, Nicholas Gardiner.

The Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister, said: "This is showing tremendous indifference towards the families of people who, after all, have laid down their lives for the country. Bringing them closure over the deaths should be the highest priority."

Sue Smith, whose son Pte Phillip Hewett, 21, was among three Staffordshire Regiment soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in July 2005, said: "They have total disregard for the families. We are left in limbo. Our lads deserve better."

A total of 69 service personnel who died in Iraq - not including the latest victim, L/Cpl Dennis Brady - are awaiting inquests before Oxford coroner's court with a further 10 in Wiltshire. Yet the Oxford coroner is now also taking on a further 37 deaths from Afghanistan.

In June this year, the Constitutional Affairs minister Harriet Harman acknowledged the problem and Mr Gardiner was given £80,000 in new funding, three new deputy coroners - including a former High Court judge - and extra administrators.

Staff have been working round the clock to process inquests and Ms Harman is expected to make a statement this week, announcing that all cases for 2003 and 2004 should be dealt with by the end of the year.

Although the law states that the case falls to the coroner "where the body lies", a spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) said cases were transferred "all the time". He added: "The coroner who takes on the inquest can agree to pass it on to another coroner. But it is up to the coroner. The Government cannot intervene.

"It could happen and it does happen, it is just Mr Gardiner prefers to keep them there."

He added that a draft bill for coroners' reform, due to be introduced this year, would limit such powers and allow other coroners, from the area where the family live, to request a case. "In our plans, the Oxford coroner would be more duty-bound to take notice if another coroner asked for the case to be sent to his or her district."

In the case of Sgt Chris Hickey, who was killed by a roadside bomb late last year, the process was initially handed to the Wiltshire coroner, because his body was returned to RAF Lyneham. But the North Yorkshire coroner, Geoff Fell, said it was transferred to his area to make it easier for the family. It has since taken place.

Mr Gardiner insisted that there was only a small and limited window of opportunity for him to transfer the cases before the dead servicemen were taken home for funerals.

"It is a quirk in the law, that has been there for years. If the DCA wants to throw mud, you could ask them why they haven't changed it in 25 years," he said.

Nevertheless, he added he had great sympathy for the families and was now trying to transfer some of the newer cases to courts closer to the families' home.

Liam Fox, the shadow Defence Secretary, said last night: "Despite all the promises, there remains a backlog and families of servicemen killed in action cannot get closure on their personal tragedies and traumas because of bureaucratic incompetence."

For many relatives, such wrangles are irrelevant, they want an opportunity for closure. Sarah Chapman, who lost her brother Sgt Robert O'Connor, 38, in January 2005, said: "You start to get suspicious. Why are they taking so long? You feel like you are hitting a wall of silence. The wound is always going to be open and unable to close, the grief is still so raw. It is so damaging."

'We are just hanging on. We need the truth and answers'

By Terri Judd

For the families of Cpl Stephen Allbutt and Trooper David Clarke it has been a long and agonising journey since the pair were killed within days of the invasion.

Cpl Allbutt, 35, and Tpr Clarke, 19, died when their tank was hit by another in a "friendly fire" incident. For the families of the soldiers from the Queen's Royal Lancers it has been a confusing search for the truth. A board of inquiry demanded better training practices, but failed, they felt, to give them the answers they sought.

Cpl Allbutt's wife, Debbi, said: "I am not happy with the Army decision and I am hoping when it goes to the civilian domain, the coroner will see the errors we see and people will be cross-examined. "We are just hanging on and waiting. We do not want to blame somebody, we need the truth and some answers." Yet they still have no date for that inquest.

For Tpr Clarke's mother, Beverley, the situation is even worse. She has been told that because there were no remains to be repatriated, there will be no inquest. All she can hope for is to be an interested bystander at Cpl Allbutt's hearing.

She said:"What makes me really angry is the length of time it took them to tell me that there would be no inquest - three years. I really was gutted. My son died for his country. Surely he is entitled to a verdict upon his death. We will go to Stephen's. But we are coming up to four years, and there is still no end in sight.

Ever since it happened it has been a waiting game. We have had to wait for everything. David and Stephen were among the first killed. It is as if they have been forgotten. But we are never going to let the Army forget. They owe us an explanation."