Families of victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook helicopter crash cannot pursue a legal claim against the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Justice Butcher refused to allow the claim by the Chinook Justice Campaign (CJC), which represents more than 55 family members of 25 of the 29 people killed in the disaster, finding that it had been brought too late.
Background of the tragedy
Twenty-nine serving military personnel died when the Chinook HC-2 helicopter crashed into the Mull of Kintyre in south-west Scotland on June 2, 1994. The helicopter was transporting 25 intelligence experts and four special forces crew from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to Fort George near Inverness when it crashed in foggy weather. While the 2011 Mull of Kintyre inquiry overturned an initial decision to blame the pilots, it did not determine the exact cause of the crash.
Legal challenge and MoD opposition
The CJC sought to challenge the MoD over what it described as an "ongoing failure" to establish an "independent and effective investigation" into the crash. Lawyers for the group told the High Court on Tuesday that information regarding the Chinook's airworthiness "raises a more than arguable claim that... those individuals who died in the crash were placed on an aircraft known to be unsafe." The MoD opposed the challenge on the grounds that it had been brought too late and that a new investigation would not serve a "practical purpose."
Judge's ruling
In his ruling, Mr Justice Butcher acknowledged the tragedy, stating: "It is right to say at the outset that the crash of the Chinook with the loss of 29 lives was a tragedy of a dimension which it is difficult to describe. The pain of bereavement and the agony of loss of the families and friends of those who perished remains, I have no doubt, enduring and bitter. My task today, however, is to apply the recognised legal tests to the particular type of claim that the claimant seeks to make." The judge said the CJC could have known of a breach of the MoD's obligations from the conclusion of the Mull of Kintyre review and that "cogent grounds" would be needed to justify the claim proceeding more than 14 years after the review, but "no such grounds have been shown." Relatives of those who died, several of whom attended court, shook their heads as the judge delivered his decision.
