Liverpool solider's warzone death: Coroner demands action

Feb 19 2008

British troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need better protection, a coroner said today.

David Masters spoke out after hearing how four soldiers died in Iraq when a bomb ripped through the unprotected underside of their armoured vehicle.

His comments were echoed by the mother of one of the dead soldiers, who appealed to the Government for more funding to ensure troops’ safety.

The four - one a close friend of Prince William - were travelling in a Warrior vehicle, which was armour-protected on the top and the sides but not on the bottom.

The explosive device was buried in a road in Basra and was detonated as the Warrior passed over it.

Second Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, 24, who was at Sandhurst military academy with William, died in the blast on April 5 last year.

The other victims were: Corporal Kris O’Neill, 27, from Catterick, Yorkshire, of the Royal Army Medical Corps; Private Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, from Southampton, also of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and Kingsman Adam James Smith, 19, from Liverpool, of 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.

Recording verdicts of unlawful killing, David Masters, Coroner for Wiltshire, told an inquest in Trowbridge he would be meeting with Armed Forces Minster Bob Ainsworth later this week to recommend the armour issue was dealt with speedily.

He said he would “seek confirmation from the top that something was being done”.

Warriors’ armour is predominantly on the sides and top of the vehicles but not on the underside, which is where the blast hit in this instance, the inquest heard.

Mr Masters, concluding proceedings, said: “It is encouraging - if any encouragement can be gained from something like this - that there is a very high-profile programme in place to research and develop new armour for the undersides of vehicles like this operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

After the inquest Cpl O’Neill’s mother Valerie, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, said: “The money needs to spent on defence for the troops. This can’t happen again.

“The bombs have become more and more sophisticated. I hope the Government puts more money into giving the forces in Iraq and Afghanistan the best protection.”

During the hearing, the coroner was told by Alan Hepper, an armour expert: “It’s a big issue. We have been told to treat it as an urgent operational requirement. It is being pushed through with great pressure from the Ministry of Defence.”

The inquest was told how a working ECM (electronic counter-measures) device, designed to jam remote-controlled detonations, was fitted to the Warrior.

But the bomb which blew up the vehicle was triggered with a command wire, found afterwards buried in the ground. An ECM could not have prevented this, the coroner said.

The explosion occurred at around 2am in an urban area, a known hot-spot for insurgents, as a convoy of vehicles was making its way back to base at Basra Airport following an unsuccessful operation to find a suspected arms cache.

Soldiers were dismounting at regular intervals to check the road ahead for hazards but the bomb which caused the deaths was not spotted buried beneath the road.

Captain Michael Peel, the platoon commander in the patrol’s lead vehicle, drove over the bomb first - before the explosively-formed projectile ripped through the second vehicle.

The blast was followed up by rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire.

Riding in the rear of the Warrior, sitting next to Lt Dyer, was Cpl Michael Carr, of the Royal Military Police, who survived the explosion, the inquest heard.

“I remember hearing a bang and that was it. Next thing I remember I was looking up at the moon,” he said.

“I looked around and I could no longer see the female officer.”

In the rear vehicle was Colour Sergeant Paul Skelton, who told the inquest: “I had never ever seen anything like that before.

“There was a massive crater in the road. The warrior was sort of at an angle, face up into the sky.”

The Royal Military Police inquiry into the deaths is still running but no-one has been arrested.

The coroner said it was likely that the four died instantly from blast wounds.

The Prince was said to be “deeply saddened” by the death of Lt Dyer.

A Clarence House spokesman said at the time: “Jo was a close friend of his at Sandhurst.”

Lt Dyer was born in Berlin in 1982 and had gone to Sandhurst after finishing a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.