3:38pm Wednesday 8th September 2010
By Simon Moss
AN INDEPENDENT lawyer will conduct a review into the Mull of Kintyre Chinook helicopter crash, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told MPs.
Standing in for Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr Clegg was answering a question from North East Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot about the 1994 crash that was blamed on two RAF Odiham pilots.
Mr Arbuthnot, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, asked how the independence of the review would be assured.
Mr Clegg told the packed chamber at Prime Minister's questions: “I am pleased to be able to confirm today that we will be holding an independent review of the evidence of the Mull of Kintyre disaster and I hope the review will be welcomed by the families of those who died in this tragic accident.
“To ensure its complete independence, the review will be conducted by a respected lawyer who is independent of the Government and who has not previously expressed a view on the disaster.”
The helicopter was carrying senior Police, Army and MI5 officers from Belfast to Inverness when it crashed in thick fog on June 2 1994.
A total of 29 people, including the pilots - Flight Lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper - died when the Mark 2 Chinook smashed into the hillside.
The two pilots, both 30, were subsequently accused of “gross negligence” for flying too low and too fast by an RAF Board of Inquiry.
In requesting independence for the review, Mr Arbuthnot told the House: “Every inquiry that has been held which has been independent of the Ministry of Defence has found it impossible to attribute negligence to the pilots.”
A campaign - supported by The Gazette - has tried to clear their names and, in May, Defence Secretary Liam Fox confirmed the review would go ahead.
Flt Lieutenant Cook's brother Chris, who lives in Crondall, said he welcomed the latest news. He said: “So long as it truly is independent we will be happy.
“There have been a number of different reviews and none of them have been able to get the MoD to change their official verdict. If this one is able to then we will of course be very pleased.”
Mr Arbuthnot has argued that blame should not be attributed at the pilots.
After the announcement, Mr Arbuthnot told The Gazette: “I hoped with my question that it would maintain pressure on the Government and also that it reminds the Government that there are people watching the episode very closely.”
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