Mother of son killed at war forgives Gordon Brown

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 20:48

THE mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan has forgiven Gordon Brown for misspelling her son's name in a handwritten letter, after an emotional Prime Minister said he understood the pain of losing a child.

Jacqui Janes, who had publicly admonished Mr Brown for getting the name wrong of her son, Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes, said she wanted to draw a line under the row. Guardsman Janes was killed by a roadside bomb on 5 October.

The Sun newspaper released a tape recording of the apologetic phone call Mr Brown made to Mrs Janes after she said she was offended. But the move appeared to backfire on the newspaper after Mrs Janes later said she felt exploited by the story, and that she had not expected the attack on Mr Brown to be so personal.

At a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister, whose daughter Jennifer died at just ten days old in 2002, said he could empathise with Mrs Janes: "I'm a parent who understands the feelings when something goes terribly, terribly wrong, and I understand also how long it takes for people to handle and deal with the grief we have all experienced."

He added: "I understand very well the sadness that she feels, and the way that she has expressed her grief is something that I can also clearly understand. I wanted to say during that conversation with her, but thought I could not really do so because I do not know her, that when there is a personal loss as deep and immediate as she has experienced it takes time to recover.

"That loss can never be replaced, you have got to take every day at a time… Over time, comfort comes from understanding that your son has played an important role in the security of our country and died in such a courageous and brave way that nobody will ever forget it."

Mr Brown had a 13-minute phone conversation with Mrs Janes on Sunday night after she accused him of being insensitive and causing offence by his scrawled handwriting. During the call, Mr Brown was told he was "disrespectful" for appearing to spell her son's name wrongly and insisted Jamie would not have bled to death if more helicopters had been available.

"I know every injury my child sustained that day. I know that my son could have survived, but my son bled to death," Mrs Janes told Mr Brown. "How would you like it if one of your children, God forbid, went to a war doing something… where he was helping protect his Queen and country and because of a lack of helicopters, lack of equipment, your child bled to death and then you had the coroner have to tell you his every injury?"

During the conversation, Mr Brown denied he had misspelt her son's name. However, the Prime Minister admitted that his handwriting was "bad", adding: "My writing is messy, it is so, so, so bad that you can't read it and I'm sorry about that, but I have tried to write honestly and honourably about the contribution your son made."

The Prime Minister did not blame his writing on his bad eyesight, despite a rugby accident leaving him blind in one eye.

Mrs Janes yesterday said she forgave Mr Brown after he spoke at the press conference: "I know he's genuinely sorry, I want to draw a line under the letter now."