Coroner urges air support for patrols in Afghanistan

Published on Friday 27 February 2009 20:20

A CORONER yesterday said further consideration should be given to increasing air support to British soldiers returning to their bases while on foot patrol in Afghanistan.

David Masters made the comments at the inquest into the deaths of Lance Corporal James Bateman and Private Jeff Doherty, both from 8 Platoon of C (Bruneval) Company, 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment (2Para).

They were killed when they came under heavy Taleban fire on 12 June last year as they returned to forwarding operating base (FOB) Gibraltar in the Upper Gereshk Valley, in the volatile Helmand Province.

The inquest at Wiltshire Coroner's Court, in Trowbridge, heard that the soldiers asked for air support, but were refused as intelligence did not indicate any threat in the area. But the two C-company platoons came under some of the heaviest fire they had experienced when they were ambushed by 20 to 30 Taliban fighters.

Before recording verdicts of unlawful killing, coroner David Masters said: "It's a sadness that air assistance was reactive and not proactive. Further consideration should be given to returning patrols (and] to the deployment of overhead assets in that context."

Major Adam Dawson, commander of C-company, 2Para, said the platoons were returning to FOB Gibraltar when they came under the "heaviest fire" he had experienced during service.

He said: "It was a large weight of fire that gave me reason to deduce the enemy was 20 to 30 men strong. The weight of fire lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. This showed some planning on the part of the Taliban."

L/Cpl Bateman, 29, and Pte Doherty, 20, were fatally injured, while two other soldiers were seriously injured, but survived.

Maj Dawson called in a CH47 helicopter to lift the casualties out of the area, and an Apache helicopter provided support.