High Court rules Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash relatives too late for review
The High Court ruled that relatives of the victims of the Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash are too late to seek a judicial review.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The High Court has ruled that relatives of the 29 people killed in the Mull of Kintyre Chinook helicopter crash are too late to seek a judicial review of the disaster, which happened 32 years ago. The decision was handed down on the same day the government was pushing through the so-called Hillsborough law, which forces public officials to tell the truth in inquiries.
Judge Christopher Butcher said that human rights legislation does not apply to events that occurred so long ago, effectively blocking the families' attempt to use new information to reopen the case. The relatives, who have campaigned for decades, expressed anger and frustration at the ruling. Their lawyer, Mark Stevens, highlighted what he called the "pernicious irony" of the timing: while Parliament debated candour among ministers, the court had ruled that candour before 2011 had an expiry date.
The crash, which took place on 2 June 1994, killed all 29 people on board, including senior intelligence and counter-terrorism figures. For years, the Ministry of Defence blamed the pilots, Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, despite a lack of evidence. The pilots were officially cleared in 2011 after a long campaign by relatives.
Key unanswered questions remain. Why did the RAF order the aircraft to be flown when its own test pilots had warned the day before the crash that it was too dangerous because the computer system governing the engines was not verifiable? Why did senior officers, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Day and Air Marshal Sir William Wratten, blame the pilots for 17 years without any evidence? And why are official papers on the crash locked away for 100 years?
The families now plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights, following the path taken by the Hillsborough families. There is also a glimmer of hope that the government might intervene: the Labour MP and former Home Secretary Andy Burnham has made positive noises about the campaign, praising the families' long-running efforts in the Commons.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 4 |
|---|---|
| Key unanswered questions include why the RAF ordered the aircraft to be flown despite test pilots deeming it unsafe, why senior officers blamed the pilots for 17 years without evidence, and why related papers are locked up for 100 years. | |
| The High Court ruled that relatives of those killed in the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash cannot seek a judicial review because human rights legislation does not apply to events that long ago. | |
| The RAF was warned by its own test pilots the day before the crash that the aircraft was too dangerous to fly. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 focused on the irony of the High Court ruling coinciding with the passage of the Hillsborough law on candour, and highlighted the key unanswered questions about the crash. The report featured a correspondent summarizing the long campaign and the families' next steps, with a critical tone toward the Ministry of Defence's handling of the case.
- “The pernicious irony of down the road in Parliament a discussion about candor amongst ministries is going on and here today in the court the judge has said candor at least before 2011 has an expiry date.”
- “Why did the RAF order this aircraft to be flown when they knew it was unsafe because their test pilots told them the day before the crash it's too dangerous to fly because the computer system that governed the engines wasn't verifiable?”
- “Why are papers on this locked up for 100, yes 100 years?”
Broadcast Timeline
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