Airman's Iraq death 'avoidable'

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An airman died in a rocket attack on his base in Iraq because of "a failure to provide appropriate protective buildings", a coroner has ruled.

Sgt Duane Barwood, 41, of Carterton, Oxon, was attached to 903 Expeditionary Air Wing and based at RAF Brize Norton.

He was in a toilet block at the Basra base when a projectile packed with 2.2lb (1kg) of explosives hit a wall 20ft (6m) away on 29 February.

The coroner in Oxford recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.

Sgt Barwood died after being struck in the chest by flying metal fragments.

Coroner Andrew Walker said: "What makes this all the more tragic is that, had the appropriate buildings been started five years ago, as they should have, this loss of life could have been avoided.

"There was a failure to provide appropriate protective buildings for the area of the base where Sgt Barwood died."

Still at risk

Lt Col Andrew Voase, of the Royal Engineers, in charge of constructing defences at the Coalition Operating Base at the time, said the toilet block in question had been earmarked a week before the tragedy as needing additional concrete protection walls to guard it in the event of a blast.

He told the hearing: "It was identified, ironically and tragically, a week before this occurred."

Lt Col Voase said that, when the base was being set up in 2003/04, such protective measures were not considered.

He said that at the time there had been little or no threat from indirect fire.

The inquest heard how the protective walls were designed to stop fragments blasting upwards from ground-exploding missiles.

The rocket that killed Sgt Barwood exploded on the top of a wall and the fragments spread across and downwards.

Col Voase said in his view, Sgt Barwood would still have been at risk even with a wall in place.

But the coroner added that the protective structures should have been built years ago.

Capt James Alder, of the Royal Artillery, told the inquest that the base's missile interception system, called Phalanx, sounded after spotting three incoming rockets. One was destroyed and the second disabled but the third got through.

"It [Phalanx] has saved the lives of many people in theatre," he said.

"Unfortunately in this instance it did not."

Sgt Barwood joined the RAF in 1985 leaves a wife and two daughters.