Brian sent to my local MP - will keep you posted.
Dear Christopher Huhne,
Could I please request that you sign 2 EDMs that are currently active. Both concern the Chinook crash over 10 years ago now at the Mull of Kintyre. As a former colleague of both pilots I remain convinced that no-one can say for sure what happened that day and for a verdict of Gross Negligence to have been levied against them is absolutely unjust.
At the time the RAF's own rules stated that, if a pilot had died and was therefore unable to present his side of the story, a verdict of Gross Negligence could only be valid if "there was no doubt whatsoever". I am not so blinkered that I cannot consider the fact that Jon and Rick did NOT make a grave mistake which led to this terrible accident but theories/supposition have been presented as facts to produce a possible scenario which is being delivered as a "no doubt whatsoever" situation
Over the years a number of august bodies have found that the verdict is not sustainable, in fact the original Board of Inquiry did not feel able to claim Gross Negligence; this was raised later by the reviewing officers.
Despite constant approaches to the MoD the constant refrain is "no new evidence therefore no change of decision". This flys in the face of a number of other reports and there is an active campaign out there to try and get this verdict put aside or changed; this campaign has the support, not only of the families of the 2 crewman, but crucially families of some of the passenger victims also.
I apologise for the long-winded letter but I am aware that this is your first term as an MP and wished to provide some background to the situation. I hope you are able to sign the EDMs concerned, 651 and 1111. I would add finally that both EDMs are attracting cross-party support and indeed both the PM and Defence Minister at the time of the incident have since reversed their view and now support the removal of the Gross Negligence verdict.
Yours sincerely,
S&S