honchun
29th Dec 2001, 05:16
From Sky News, <a href="http://www.skynews.co.uk/skynews/article/0,,30000-1039417,00.html" target="_blank">Click here</a>
Pilot 'Made To Fly Into Nuclear Cloud'
Britain's nuclear bomb testing programme is being investigated after claims an RAF pilot was exposed to dangerous radiation levels.
Military chiefs ordered former Squadron Leader Eric Denson to fly his plane through the mushroom cloud left by a nuclear bomb to collect technical data, it has been claimed.
Mr Denson was healthy before the test in 1958 but then developed chronic illness which led to depression and his suicide in 1976, according to a report in The Guardian.
'Malicious'
The newspaper said the police inquiry will concern whether it was legal for military chiefs to order the crew to fly through the cloud.
Mr Denson's widow Shirley is thought to have sparked the investigation after accusing the Government of "knowingly and maliciously" exposing her husband to "deadly and legally prohibited levels of radiation which ultimately led to his death".
"We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service specialist crime group are carrying out preliminary assessment of information received in August this year," Scotland Yard said.
"We are not prepared to say who requested this assessment to be carried out or in connection with what."
Pilot 'Made To Fly Into Nuclear Cloud'
Britain's nuclear bomb testing programme is being investigated after claims an RAF pilot was exposed to dangerous radiation levels.
Military chiefs ordered former Squadron Leader Eric Denson to fly his plane through the mushroom cloud left by a nuclear bomb to collect technical data, it has been claimed.
Mr Denson was healthy before the test in 1958 but then developed chronic illness which led to depression and his suicide in 1976, according to a report in The Guardian.
'Malicious'
The newspaper said the police inquiry will concern whether it was legal for military chiefs to order the crew to fly through the cloud.
Mr Denson's widow Shirley is thought to have sparked the investigation after accusing the Government of "knowingly and maliciously" exposing her husband to "deadly and legally prohibited levels of radiation which ultimately led to his death".
"We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service specialist crime group are carrying out preliminary assessment of information received in August this year," Scotland Yard said.
"We are not prepared to say who requested this assessment to be carried out or in connection with what."