http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...inquest120.xml
Hercules inquest leaves families 'in limbo'
20th Sept 2007
Families of 10 servicemen whose Hercules plane was shot down by Iraqi insurgents have accused the Government of keeping them "in limbo" after it emerged that they will have to wait three years to find out how their loved ones died.
Yesterday there was confusion over the cause of the delay.
The coroner hearing the case said officials from the Ministry of Defence were sifting through witnesses' interviews and crash reports to decide what they would block under the Official Secrets Act.
David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner, insisted that the families were supportive of the process, adding: "No one wishes to put UK forces serving in Iraq or Afghanistan in jeopardy. These documents are of a sensitive nature."
But the Ministry of Defence claimed the coroner was still reading its own Board of Inquiry reports.
Sarah Chapman, the sister of one airman, Flight Sergeant Bob O'Connor, said she was "incensed" by the delay. "The grieving process cannot be completed until the inquest process has been," she said. "In today's society is it really acceptable that families are left to wait until such questions are answered? We are all finding it extremely frustrating to be in a state of limbo."
John Cooper, a barrister representing four of the families, said they would be "terribly disappointed" by the news.