As [co-pilot] FLt Jones was preparing to give evidence [to the SI] told the court martial that Squadron Leader Nathan Giles - one of those investigating the incident - switched off the tape, grabbed him by the collar of his flying suit and said: “If you tell anyone about this I will break your ******* legs.
Having given evidence to an aircraft accident SI myself there's a lot of this that doesn't make sense. Principally there's an assumption that this was a 1 vs 1 interview. That is not my experience at all. I understand that not all SI are conducted the same way but I find it impossible to believe that this interview was conducted without the presence of at least the legal representative and it's improbable the President wasn't also there for primary evidence gathering.
In my case it was 7 vs 1 with only 2 of the 7 actually asking questions and the remainder sat in the background for 'checks and balances' - hangers-on as the aircrew might call them! The whole thing was scrupulously fair and the emphasis was on not only being fair but being seen to be fair.
Surely an unexplained break in the tape recording would be quite obvious?