US ambassador invited to Iraq inquest
Updated on 17 April 2007
A coroner hearing the inquest into the deaths of eight British servicemen in a helicopter crash in Iraq has invited the US ambassador to explain America's lack of co-operation.
Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker was told he could not see an American safety report into what happened when the US Marine Corps Sea Knight went down south of the Kuwaiti border on March 21, 2003 killing the eight British commandos and four US crew.
In an interview with Channel 4 News, David Johnson, America's Deputy Chief of Mission, said the coroner was not competent to examine the issue.
Paul Spencer, a lawyer acting for the family of victim Sergeant Les Hehir, said his client was dismayed by that comment and asked the embassy to explain itself in court.
He said: "It seems to Mrs Hehir that if Mr Johnson is prepared to go on Channel 4 News then he or the American ambassador should at least be asked to attend here this afternoon or tomorrow morning to explain to you and to the rest of the families present at this inquest why it is that the American government is not going to co-operate with this inquest."
As the inquest adjourned for lunch, Mrs Hehir, 37, also called for the ambassador to attend.
She said: "If we had what we are asking for - the engineering report, the safety report and other items that have been withheld, we would not need to summon the US ambassador. We wouldn't need to go to the extremes we go to to get answers.
"I should not have to stand in front of television cameras to plead for co-operation. They should give it to us anyway.
"I'm sure I speak for all the families when I say that we just want to know what happened, we want the truth."
