'I could see from his face that my son had died in agony in Iraq'

A SOLDIER'S mother today described how she looked into her dead son's face and could tell he died in agony.

Margaret Valentine was yesterday awarded more than 40,000 damages from the Ministry of Defence, after enduring six years of heartbreak struggling for justice for her son.

She said she was determined that the "negligence" which killed Sapper Robert Thomson should never claim another life.

The MoD has now apologised to Ms Valentine, of Whitburn, West Lothian, for her 22-year-old son's "horrific death" in Iraq. It was strongly criticised by a judge at Edinburgh's Court of Session yesterday.

Sapper Thomson, of the Royal Engineers, was killed when a trench collapsed and buried him in Basra in 2004.

Ms Valentine, 53, said: "When they repatriated his body, I could see from his face he had died in agony. Some of the things that came out in the trial were really harrowing. He was trapped in the trench for six hours.

"This is absolutely nothing to do with the money – money will never bring him back. It was to find out the truth of how my son died. I knew in my heart of hearts that my son would not have gone into the trench.

"If the army had observed basic health and safety procedures, then my son would be alive today. I want to make sure this will never happen again."

She said she was relieved her battle for justice was over.

An army inquiry had blamed Sapper Thomson for the accident but Ms Valentine claimed it was "a whitewash".

She refused to accept the military's claim that her son had ignored obvious dangers and gone into the trench to collect a soil sample, knowing the walls were not supported. She believes that, somehow, he fell into the unguarded trench.

Judge Lord Bonomy attributed 80 per cent responsibility to the Ministry of Defence and 20 per cent to Sapper Thomson.

Ms Valentine's solicitor, Patrick McGuire, described the accident as "one of the worst examples of a complete disregard for health and safety I have seen in my career".

He said: "If this had happened in the UK, we would be talking about a criminal prosecution."

The Court of Session heard that Sapper Thomson died during his fourth tour of duty in Iraq. He was a heating and plumbing engineer installing and maintaining showers for military personnel.

However, because of manpower shortages he was sent to help a group building a permanent jetty at Basra Palace.

Because of the need to check ground stability another soldier was using a mechanical digger to take out a trench.

The digger driver saw Sapper Thomson struggling in the bottom of the trench and shouting for help. The side of the trench had collapsed and buried him and rescue attempts failed.

Ms Valentine's legal team claimed supports should have been used to shore up the trench.

The MoD had contested these claims, insisting that Sapper Thomson's training would have taught him the dangers of trench digging.

An MoD spokesman said: "Our policy is to apply UK health and safety standards to overseas non-battlefield operations whenever practicable, and in this case the judge ruled that MoD had failed to do this. We apologise for our failings."

Lord Bonomy awarded Ms Valentine of Gardiner Crescent, Whitburn, 42,000 to compensate for the loss of her son's society and support.