Smith to Introduce Bill to speed up Military Death Inquiries
8/11/07
Margaret Smith MSP is to introduce a Member’s Bill to the Scottish Parliament that would allow fatal accident inquiries to be held into the deaths of Scottish servicemen and women abroad.
At the moment only English coroners can investigate the cases of soldiers who are killed abroad, but delays and long distances that families are forced to travel mean that there is mounting pressure for a change.
The Edinburgh West MSP is seeking cross party support to allow a swift change to the law governing Fatal Accident Inquiries, which will allow sheriffs to hold inquiries into soldier deaths.
Commenting, Mrs Smith said:
“This is a humanitarian situation. At present, bereaved families of Scottish soldiers have to travel to England to attend the Fatal Accident Inquest. The families of service personnel who have given their lives have suffered enough. We should do all we can to minimise the delays to the inquiries into the deaths of their loved ones.
“We must amend the 1976 Fatal Accidents and Sudden Death Inquiry Act to allow Sheriffs to hold inquiries into military personnel, normally domiciled in Scotland, who are killed in active service overseas.
“I hope that this proposal will attract cross party support and that we can move swiftly to deal with this anomaly and reduce the stress and burden on these families.”
Local MP John Barrett also raised concerns about this issue and the UK Government’s treatment of Veterans and the families of war casualties in a speech during a debate in Parliament on the military covenant last month.
Mr Barrett said:
“We have to look again at what we can do to support bereaved families who have lost loved ones, and the current huge backlog of military inquests is a scandal that Ministers must make a top priority. We must make sure we are meeting our moral obligation to our forces and that we are providing proper support for them and their families at home.”
You can read Mr Barrett’s speech in full, and the Minister’s response.
Read more about this story and reactions to this as reported in the papers:
In The
Herald
In The Scotsman
On the BBC
On STV
In The Press and Journal
In the Midlothian Advertiser
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