Families of dead soldiers sue MoD over Snatch 4x4 deaths

Published on Friday 19 June 2009 21:51

FAMILIES of four servicemen killed in Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan are suing the Ministry of Defence for compensation, their lawyer said yesterday.

The relatives argue the lightly-armoured vehicles failed to protect their loved ones properly.

Among those who served claims were the family of Gary Wright, 22, from Glasgow, who died in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in October 2006.

The sister and eight-year-old daughter of Private Lee Ellis, 23, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, who died in Al Amarah in southern Iraq in February 2006, also served a claim on the MoD's lawyers.

Jocelyn Cockburn, a partner at London-based Hodge Jones & Allen solicitors, said these were the first claims to challenge the Snatch's vulnerability.

"Snatch Land Rovers are lightly armoured and designed to provide no more than limited protection against ballistic threats, mainly small arms bullets," she said.

"They provide little or no protection against improvised explosive devices."

The claims are being brought for negligence, under Article 2 of the 1998 Human Rights Act, on the basis that the MoD failed to provide reasonable protection to save the soldiers' lives.

Ms Cockburn said the case relied on a landmark Court of Appeal ruling last week that British troops serving abroad are protected by human rights laws.

The claims have been brought by the families of Lee Ellis, 23, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, who died in Al Amarah, southern Iraq in February 2006, Marine Gary Wright, 22, from Glasgow, who died in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in October 2006, Lance-Corporal Kirk Redpath, 22, from Romford, Essex, who died near Basra in Iraq in August 2007, and Phillip Hewett, 21, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, who died in Al Amarah in July 2005.

An MoD spokesman said: "Over the past 14 months, the MoD has received four compensation claims following deaths involving Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The MoD pays compensation wherever there is a liability to do so. We remain profoundly aware of the enduring grief of the four families who lost their loved ones in combat."

The Snatch Land Rover was originally designed as a cheap and quick way of transporting troops in Northern Ireland. But it has been heavily criticised for failing to protect against roadside bombs following a series of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former army colonel, has called for the Snatch to be withdrawn from service.