Chinook crash victims’ families urge Burnham to order fresh review into tragedy

Families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook crash are calling on new Prime Minister Andy Burnham for a new independent review into the tragedy.

They also want Mr. Burnham to meet with them during his first 100 days in office.

Earlier this month, a High Court judge ruled that families of several victims could not take legal action against the Ministry of Defense over the crash.

Twenty-nine military personnel were killed when a Chinook HC-2 helicopter crashed in foggy conditions on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, on June 2, 1994.

They were flying from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland towards Inverness.

The majority of those on board were British intelligence experts from MI5, the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The 2011 Mull of Kintyre inquest overturned the initial verdict holding the pilots responsible for the crash. However, the cause of the tragedy could not be determined.

The Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC), made up of more than 55 family members of 25 of the victims, sought to challenge the Ministry of Defense’s “continued failure” to establish an “independent and effective investigation” into the crash.

However, a High Court judge’s decision threw out the case because the claim was made too late.

The CJC legal team said they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, but Matt Tobias, the son of Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias, who died in the crash, said the families “do not want lawsuits that will last for years.”

Mr Tobias said Mr Burnham “had the power to prevent this” by ordering a new independent review.

He said: “We invite Mr Burnham to meet us within his first 100 days in office so we can present the evidence that has emerged in recent years and explain why we believe a new review, independent of the Ministry of Defence, is now necessary.

“Mr Burnham’s speech in the House of Commons, in which he talked about ending Britain’s culture of cover-up and strengthening the duty of honesty, gave our families real hope.

“We want him and his ministers to show more respect for Chinook families than we received from his predecessor, who prevented us from holding meetings and investigations and believed that the Department of Defense was lying.

“After 32 years, we don’t want special treatment. We just want the truth.”

The CJC group said Mr Burnham wanted the Ministry of Defense to establish a new review, independent of the Ministry of Defence, that would provide full access to all relevant documents relating to the airworthiness of the Chinook Mk2 helicopter and the circumstances leading up to the accident.

In the letter to Mr Burnham, Chinook families said: “Throughout your career you have advocated that the State should never use its power to disappoint families seeking the truth.

“We respectfully suggest that the Chinook case now provides the first opportunity for your Government to demonstrate these principles in practice and should serve as a test case for this. [the] Hillsborough Law.”

The Hillsborough Bill was unanimously supported by MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month.

This would create a legally enforceable duty of candour, compelling public officials and authorities to act transparently when investigations and investigations are conducted.

The families demanded that victims minister Alex Davies-Jones, who was reappointed last week, consider their case as one of the test cases for Hillsborough Law.

The appeals are also backed by former Conservative Defense Secretary Sir Liam Fox, who has personally called on Mr Burnham to resolve the case.

The Chinook Justice Campaign also wrote to new Defense Secretary Wes Streeting, urging him to “start correcting the mistakes of his predecessors”.