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| Woman loses latest court battle over son's death at Iraq police station | Woman loses latest court battle over son's death at Iraq police station |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A woman whose son, a British redcap, was killed by an armed mob in Iraq has lost the latest round of her legal battle for a new independent inquiry into his death. | A woman whose son, a British redcap, was killed by an armed mob in Iraq has lost the latest round of her legal battle for a new independent inquiry into his death. |
| Court of appeal judges in London dismissed a challenge by Patricia Long against an earlier ruling by the high court that she did not have a right in law to have another investigation. | Court of appeal judges in London dismissed a challenge by Patricia Long against an earlier ruling by the high court that she did not have a right in law to have another investigation. |
| Related: 'Run or you will die.' The soldiers did not go and they died... | Related: 'Run or you will die.' The soldiers did not go and they died... |
| Cpl Paul Long, 24, and five Royal Military police colleagues died on 24 June 2003 after the police station where they were sent, in Majar al-Kabir in south-east Iraq, to meet officers they had been tasked to train, was surrounded and attacked. | Cpl Paul Long, 24, and five Royal Military police colleagues died on 24 June 2003 after the police station where they were sent, in Majar al-Kabir in south-east Iraq, to meet officers they had been tasked to train, was surrounded and attacked. |
| Lawyers for Patricia Long, from Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, argued that all the formal inquiries so far, including an inquest, had failed to get to the bottom of how mistakes that led to the deaths were made – and who was responsible for them. | |
| Friday’s decision was announced by the master of the rolls, Lord Dyson, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Underhill. | Friday’s decision was announced by the master of the rolls, Lord Dyson, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Underhill. |
| The judges said they were satisfied that Long “cannot require” the defence secretary to hold another inquiry. | The judges said they were satisfied that Long “cannot require” the defence secretary to hold another inquiry. |
| Long’s case was that there has not been a “sufficient investigation” into the circumstances of her son’s death, and that this constitutes a breach of article 2 – the right to life – of the European convention on human rights. | |
| During the appeal hearing last month, Michael Fordham QC, for Long, said that the six redcaps had been sent to the police station without an iridium satellite phone, which might have enabled them to call for help. This was despite a clear order issued a month before by the commander of the battle group occupying Maysan province, that all patrols should have the equipment. | |
| Giving the background, Dyson said it was not in dispute that if the soldiers of C section, in which Cpl Long served, had been equipped with an iridium satellite phone on 24 June 2003 “their lives might have been saved”. | |
| He said: “Having seen Mrs Long throughout this two day appeal, I am only too aware of the anguish that she continues to suffer over the death of her son on that fateful day in June 2003. | |
| “It is entirely understandable that she wishes to leave no stone unturned in her quest to discover precisely how the RMP soldiers were not provided with iridium phones when they should have been.” | |
| But he said he was satisfied that “as a matter of law she is not entitled to any further investigation into this tragic affair”. |