16.3 |
Military fatalities and the bereaved
The
Coroners Act (Northern Ireland) 1959 provided that coroners in
Northern Ireland
within
whose district a dead body was found, or an unexpected or
unexplained death or
a death in
suspicious and certain other circumstances occurred, “may” hold an
inquest.18
The Act
also provided for the Advocate General for Northern Ireland to
direct that an
inquest
should be held in other circumstances.
In the case
of military deaths overseas, civilian inquests usually took place
after the
internal
military investigation had concluded, although this was not
formally required.
The
military investigation could provide evidence that would be
extremely difficult for
a coroner
to source elsewhere.
25.
An MOD
official wrote to Mr Nicholas Gardiner, the Coroner for
Oxfordshire,
on 17
January 2003 to advise him that the Services were currently
considering the
administration
for “potential mass casualties in the event of war”, and that the
majority
of
fatalities might be repatriated to RAF Brize Norton, which fell
within his area of
responsibility.19
The
official asked whether “normal peacetime rules” would apply
and
specifically
whether, if there were a large number of fatalities, he would
expect to hold
an inquest
into each case.
26.
Mr Gardiner
replied on 20 January, confirming that:
•
If the
cause of death appeared unnatural, then there would be an
inquest.
This would
normally be held in public.
•
Normal
practice where there was a single death was to transfer
responsibility for
the inquest
to the “home town coroner”. Where there were a number of
deaths
in the same
incident it was “clearly sensible” for the same coroner to hold
those
inquests;
that would commonly be the coroner for the point of
entry.20
27.
Mr Gardiner
and officials in the Home Office (the Department which was
then
responsible
for coronial policy) and the MOD worked together during February
and
March to
refine the arrangements for receiving UK fatalities.
28.
Mr Gardiner
advised a Home Office official on 20 February that he
understood
that in
“contamination cases”, the bodies of deceased Service Personnel
would not
18
Coroners
Act (Northern Ireland) 1959, as amended.
19
Letter MOD
[junior official] to Gardiner, 17 January 2003, ‘Handling of
Multiple Deaths as a Result
of
Operations Overseas’.
20
Letter
Gardiner to MOD [junior official], 20 January 2003, ‘Foreign
Deaths’.
21
Letter
Gardiner to Home Office [junior official], 20 February 2003,
‘Service Deaths Overseas’.
Mr Gardiner’s
letter provides no further details on the nature of those
“contamination cases”. The Inquiry
believes
that Mr Gardiner was referring to casualties from chemical and
biological weapons.
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