Liverpool marine's Dad: Cock-ups killed my son

Nov 20 2007

The deaths in Iraq of four British military personnel could have been avoided if their boat had been equipped with vital bomb-jamming equipment, an inquest heard today.

Despite there being enough of the electronic counter-measures (ECMs) in theatre at the time, the Royal Marines boat carrying the four between British bases in Basra was not fitted with one.

ECMs are designed to stop the detonation of makeshift bombs such as the one that killed them.

James Nowak, a former Royal Navy serviceman and the father of one of those killed, spoke of his “frustration”, describing the incident as “a cock up”.

The four died on the Shatt al-Arab River on November 12 last year when a makeshift explosive mounted on a bridge was detonated as their boat passed underneath.

Those killed were: Warrant Officer Class 2 Lee Hopkins, 35, of the Royal Corps of Signals, a married father of one from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire; Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, of the Intelligence Corps, originally from Ipswich, Suffolk; Corporal Ben Nowak, 27, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, from Speke, Liverpool; and Marine Jason ’Jay’ Hylton, 33, of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, a divorced father of two from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire.

Today’s evidence comes in the wake of the recent inquest at Oxford into the death in Iraq of 19-year-old Gordon Gentle, of the Royal Highland Fusiliers - unlawfully killed by a roadside bomb while an ECM kit intended for his Land Rover, which may have disabled the bomb, sat in a Basra storeroom gathering dust.

Today’s Oxford inquest also heard that the bridge should have been searched and cleared before the boat passed under it - but it was not. Coroner Andrew Walker said this amounted to a “serious failure to follow basic practice”.

The hearing was told that the stricken boat was in a convoy of three vessels. At least one of the other boats had an ECM and it was hoped that kit’s range would cover the boat which was caught in the blast - but it did not.

The coroner enquired of Warrant Officer (2nd Class) Brian Rawlings, of the Royal Signals: “In this case the ECM equipment (on the other boat) did not prevent the explosion?”

“Yes,” came the reply.

The coroner asked: “If there had been ECM equipment on their boat (the one struck by the blast) is it likely that the bomb would not have gone off?”

“Yes”, said WO Rawlings.

The coroner asked: “Were there sufficient sets of equipment available for the boats deployed, enough sets for all the vessels?”

WO Rawlings replied: “On this day, yes there was.”

At this a number of family members in court hung there heads in their hands, visibly distressed.

Cpl Nowak’s father James expressed incredulity.

“I know how it works. It’s frustrating because they are trying to sidestep the issue,” said Mr Nowak, from Southampton, outside court.

“At the end of the day they made a cock-up and that’s that.”

Major Ed Pope, of the Royal Logistics Corps, said in evidence that the bridge where the bomb was detonated should have been searched and cleared by land-based troops before the boats passed through.

He agreed with the coroner that not doing so amounted to “a really serious failure to follow basic procedure” by the Royal Marines.