07/11/2007

'Army Logistics Failure' Led To Soldier's Death

An Army logistics failure led to the unlawful killing of a British soldier in Iraq, a coroner has ruled.

Gordon Gentle, 19, from the Royal Highland Fusiliers (RHF), was killed in a roadside bomb attack in Basra on June 28, 2004.

However, Selena Lynch, assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, said that the bomb would probably not have detonated had a bomb-disabling device - Element B - been fitted to the Land Rover in which Fusilier Gentle was travelling.

Electric counter measures were in theatre and available for collection by the RHF to be fitted to vehicles on June 16 - two weeks before Fusilier Gentle's death.

Ms Lynch branded the army's supply chain as "chaotic and lacking in clarity".

Speaking after the inquest, Fusilier Gentle's mother Rose, 43, from Glasgow, said that justice had been done. She said: "They have deprived me of a beautiful son and two sisters of a beautiful brother.

"I'm proud of Gordon, but disgusted by the way he's been treated."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman commenting on the death said: "We were immensely saddened at his loss ... and we deeply regret the series of events that contributed to it."

See: Inquest Told ‘Blame Blair’



(KMcA)


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