Widow of man killed in helicopter crash calls for Crown Office investigation

The wife of a man who died in an RAF helicopter crash exactly 30 years ago today has stated that the public prosecutor’s office must investigate the accident.

Susan Phoenix’s husband, Detective Inspector Ian Phoenix, was killed in a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter crash on June 2, 1994, when the aircraft went down in foggy weather on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula.

All 25 passengers and all four crew members on board RAF Chinook ZD576 were killed.

Among the passengers were several Northern Irish intelligence experts.

It is considered one of the RAF’s worst disasters.

Ms Phoenix has since written a letter to Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, accusing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of a “cover-up” and “unacceptable behaviour”.

In the letter, which was also sent to the Scottish Government, Ms Phoenix wrote: “I believe the Scottish authorities are best placed to assist with what I can only describe as the unacceptable behaviour of the Ministry of Defence over the years, both towards the grieving families and towards the deceased pilots.”

“This approach falls far short of acceptable standards, and the same goes for the judicial authorities, who have not seen fit to order an investigation into the deaths, despite evidence of illegal acts emerging over the years.

“All of this information has been published and made available to the public, most recently through a BBC documentary which exposed a cover-up similar to the situation at the Post Office and the NHS blood scandal.

“The current situation means that families are left in limbo and the Department of Defense appears legally untouchable.”

She claimed that Lord Alexander Philip had agreed that the helicopter was “not airworthy, even though the RAF was ‘required’ to do so”, and that the crew were not informed of this at the time. This information was also withheld from the subsequent Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI).

She said: “Had he been told this, my husband and no doubt his colleagues would have asked why alternative transport was not arranged. He was sent to his death by a conscious decision to ignore legal obligations.

‘Following recent media reports summarising the evidence withheld from the fatal accident investigation, could you please explain why no investigation was ordered?

“The public prosecutor’s office has been in possession of new evidence for several years that was withheld from all investigations.”

She claimed that Ministry of Defence witnesses had “serially misled” a sheriff during the FAI and later the House of Lords select committee into the disaster.

She wrote: “This is a serious matter that has added to the grief of all 29 families.”

She added: “I tried not to think about the loss of my husband and his colleagues, who were also my friends, while I tried to build a new life for myself and my family.

“But now, in my mid-seventies, I feel I have a right to know what happened.

“For 17 years, the Department of Defense was content to blame the pilots, and the legal authorities had good reason not to intervene because the ‘guilty’ people were dead.

“But now that they have been acquitted, one has to ask why the case has not been reopened?”

She called on the Crown Prosecution Service to issue an official statement on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy, claiming that if the FAI had not been misled, further action “could have prevented the loss of life in the subsequent tragedies that have struck the RAF”.

She wrote: “The continued unclear and dishonest responses to my FOI (Freedom of Information) requests to the Minister of State for the Armed Forces over the years blatantly demonstrate the extent to which they are intent on preventing further questions.

“I will be on the Mull of Kintyre on the anniversary this year with my son, a former RAF pilot, at the invitation of the local church and the Royal British Legion.

“The people of Mull have always supported us as a family and deserve a proper explanation for the disaster that has devastated their beautiful island for a very long time.

“I believe that it is long past time for justice to be done in this case and that it is your responsibility and the responsibility of the Scottish judiciary to ensure that this happens in order to right a grave injustice.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The accident on the Mull of Kintyre was a tragic accident and our thoughts and condolences go out to the families, friends and colleagues of all those killed.

“In 2010 the independent investigation of Mull of Kintyre was carried out and the findings were fully accepted.

“The review found no new evidence of mechanical failures, nor did the report raise any safety concerns related to the Chinook Mark 2.”

A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “We respect and value the correspondence of the bereaved and will address the concerns raised by Dr Susan Phoenix in a response to her letter.”

The Scottish government declined to comment.