Sir Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, has called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to launch a fresh inquiry into the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash on the Mull of Kintyre, in which 29 military personnel died. Speaking after delivering a letter to Downing Street alongside victims' families on the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy, Sir Liam said new evidence suggested the Ministry of Defence and RAF may have misled previous investigations.
Sir Liam, who has been working with the Chinook Justice Campaign, argued that previous inquiries had focused only on the immediate cause of the crash or pilot responsibility, but had failed to examine the broader sequence of events. He called for a mechanism that would guarantee access to all relevant data, allowing for a complete narrative of decision-making points. 'The families feel they have never been given the whole story,' he said, adding that the Prime Minister had an opportunity to show his 'lawyerly instincts for natural justice'.
The former defence secretary's own 2011 inquiry had concluded that an initial decision to blame pilots Flight Lieutenants Rick Cook and Jonathan Tapper was incorrect. However, new evidence obtained through Freedom of Information requests has raised 'deep concerns' that vital information may have been withheld from ministers and Parliament, and that MoD data on the aircraft's airworthiness was incorrect.
Gaynor Tobias, 75, whose husband Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias MBE died in the crash, expressed frustration at the lack of progress. 'We don't feel we can move on with all this dishonesty and deceit,' she said. Her son Andy Tobias added that the group would continue to fight for a review of the evidence by the right people, saying 'the truth always comes out'.
