Chinook families call for Public Inquiry ahead of meeting Ministers for first time

A Malmesbury man who lost his dad in a Chinook helicopter crash 31 years ago is to meet Government Ministers for the first time today.

Niven Pheonix's dad, Detective Superintendent Ian Phoenix, was on board a Chinook Mark 2 when it crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994.

29 people were killed and the families are demanding justice after a recent documentary suggested the chopper wasn't airworthy.

During the meeting, which will include Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, the families involved in the Chinook Justice Campaign will call for a public inquiry, after revealing 225 new unanswered questions on Monday.

The questions the Campaign has include:

• Who authorised the mission and at what level decisions were taken?
• Why was the unairworthy Chinook Mark 2 chosen for the journey, instead of two Puma helicopters originally tasked for the trip, despite repeated warnings from test pilots and engineers that the Mark 2 was “not to be relied upon in any way whatsoever”.
• Why key technical documents including the 1992 Chinook Airworthiness Review Team (CHART) report was withheld from multiple inquiries and former Defence Secretary Liam Fox misled?
• Why the aircraft was accepted off contract without certification, breaching MoD rules?
• Whether the crew or passengers were informed of the risks?

Time for accountability

The families say Ministry of Defence claims of "no new evidence" are no longer valid, with the total number of unanswered questions at 335.

Niven told us it's time for the MoD to own up to mistakes that were made.

"We believe it is a cover up of embarrassment," he said. "Ultimately they don't want to look at what the mistakes they made in in the past. They don't want to have accountability and they don't want that transparency and it's purely out of embarrassment for the Ministry of Defence."

He added that the claims of an inquiry not revealing anything are "disingenuous".

Niven said the families are being forced to go through the courts for a judicial review in order to get the public inquiry they're after, but stressed that that's not a route they've taken willingly.

He told us that his mother, who is into her 70s, should not have to endure this process to find justice for her husband, and discover why he was loaded onto that helicopter 31 years ago.

Is the PM sure this won't happen again?

Niven told us that the recent documentary revealed that MoD officiails lied to Government Ministers.

He said Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Liam Fox and David Davis have all spoken about the lack of truth they were given and Niven is questioning whether Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, can be sure that this won't happen again.

"How can you be sure that this won't happen again, that you won't have a situation where ministry defence officials can lie to your ministers and get away with it?

"We have several ministers saying they were lied to and seriously misled by the Ministry of Defence and no one's been made accountable for that."

The families want to meet with the Prime Minister face-to-face and are calling on him to take three steps of action:

• Over-rule the MoD and reverse the decision to block a public inquiry
• Grant access to ALL files on the Chinook Mark 2 and crash, including those sealed until 2094
• Make the Chinook crash the test case for the new Hillsborough Law, officially the Public Office (Accountability) Bill.

An MOD spokesperson said: “The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died. We understand that the lack of certainty about the cause of the crash has added to the distress of the families.

“The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review. Lord Coaker, Minister of State for Defence, Al Carns, Minister for the Armed Forces and Louise Sandher-Jones MP, Minister for Veterans and People, will be meeting with representatives from the Chinook Justice Campaign, to listen to their concerns first hand.”