The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
calls
‘novel and contentious’, which was to get civilian police to sort
of come along
and
help?’
“The answer
was always, ‘We are a bit stretched, but we are fine’. My people
and
I just
took that at, not exactly face value, but kept our eyes on it and
at no stage
did we ever
have to do anything that was ‘novel and
contentious’.”84
On 24 June
2003, six RMP Personnel – Sergeant Simon Hamilton‑Jewell,
Corporal
Russell
Aston, Corporal Paul Long, Corporal Simon Miller, Lance Corporal
Benjamin
Hyde, and
Lance Corporal Thomas Keys – were killed at Majarr al Kabir in
Iraq.
Mr Hoon
informed the House of Commons on 17 November 2004 that a BOI into
that
incident
had now completed its work.85
Because of
the “wider parliamentary and public
interest”,
the MOD had taken the unusual step of providing a summary of the
BOI’s
findings to
Parliament and to the media. The families of those who died would
be briefed
by the
President of the BOI, and would subsequently meet Mr Hoon to
discuss the BOI’s
findings
and any concerns they might have.
Continued
criminal investigation prevented the BOI from considering the
events that were
the direct
cause of the six deaths, but Mr Hoon informed the
House:
“The Board
found that the incident at Al Majarr Al Kabir was a surprise
attack, which
could not
reasonably have been predicted. The Board also found that a number
of
factors may
potentially have had a bearing on the deaths of the six soldiers,
including
issues
relating to ammunition, communications and command relationships
within
the battle
group to which the Royal Military Police platoon was attached. The
Board
was not,
however, able to state that any of these factors, either in
isolation or in
combination
directly determined the six soldiers’ fate.”
Mr Hoon
went on to acknowledge:
“I am aware
that some of the families have been critical of the Army’s
response
to the
deaths of the six soldiers. I hope they recognise the Board’s work
for the
thorough
and detailed review that it is. I hope, too, that they now have a
much better
understanding
of the events leading up to the death of their loved ones and the
wider
context in
which the events occurred, and can take some comfort from
this.”
The RMP
suffered 12 fatalities during the course of Op TELIC, including the
six fatalities
136.
An April 2005
review of the MOD’s future requirements for Service
Policing
recorded
that “The recommendations of the [2004] review have largely
been
84
Public
hearing, 21 July 2010, pages 19‑20.
85
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 17
November 2004, columns 90‑91WS.
86
GOV.UK, 12
December 2012, British
Fatalities: Operations in Iraq.
87
Minute
Rooks to VCDS, 29 April 2005, ‘Review of the Department’s
Requirements for Service Policing’.
102