UK: Families Charged For Iraq Inquest Documents

Taken from The Telegraph, UK, 05.12.06
By Sally Peck and PA

Families of servicemen who have died during the Iraq war have had to pay as much as £600 for documents used at the inquests into their deaths, the Government has admitted.

Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs minister, pledged to raise the issue with Defence Secretary Des Browne after meeting with relatives of 11 service personnel who died in the conflict.

Among those meeting with Miss Harman was a man who had to pay £600 for access to papers that the Army and coroner already had. Relatives are charged per page for the documents relating to their loved one's death.

Miss Harman said: "Nobody thought it was fair that they have to pay for documents the coroner has got and the army has got."

The relatives of the deceased servicemen also complained about information being blanked out on documents they were given and requested that inquests be regionalised.

At the moment, the majority of military inquests are held in Oxfordshire, because the bodies of many servicemen are flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Carterton in the west of the county.

In October it was revealed that the inquest backlog had risen to more than 100 cases, which included people killed in other conflicts and exercises, and even two civilian cases dating from 1998.

An extra three assistant deputy coroners have been working on military cases since the summer to help bring down the level of inquests still to be heard, Miss Harman said.