Chinook Justice Campaign files formal complaint against MoD as families meet victims minister in Westminster

25th March 2026

Hillsborough law campaigners back Chinook crash families’ calls for public inquiry and say delayed new law must apply to 1994 crash secrecy

The families of those killed in the 1994 RAF Chinook crash have today formally escalated their campaign for truth and justice, submitting a detailed letter of complaint to the Ministry of Defence accusing it of “misrepresentation” of the facts in recent media statements and a failure to engage with the evidence.

The letter, sent to defence ministers and copied to the victims minister, the Victims Commissioner and the Independent Public Advocate Cindy Butts, follows press statements issued by the MoD over the last week, and comes as representatives of the Chinook Justice Campaign meet in Parliament today with victims minister Alex Davies-Jones MP.

In the letter, the families state that despite explaining their concerns to MoD ministers in December, repeatedly misleading statements about the crash have been made to the media over the last week and have caused “deep concern and distress.”

The families also condemn the ministry’s failure to respond to a detailed dossier of evidence about the lack of airworthiness of the Mark 2 Chinook submitted more than three months ago. 

The families challenge repeated official claims that the crash was “an accident” already resolved by previous inquiries, describing that position as “inaccurate and profoundly offensive” to the families. 

The letter also sets out four formal demands, including an immediate end to what the families describe as misleading statements, a full response to their evidence, and clarity on whether a judge-led public inquiry will now be established given overwhelming evidence that their relatives were placed on board an unairworthy helicopter. 

The escalation comes as the campaign receives full backing for a public inquiry from the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, which says the proposed – but long delayed - duty of candour law must be applied to the Chinook case.

Solicitor Elkan Abrahamson, Director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, said: “The purpose of the Hillsborough Law is to ensure that public bodies are open, honest and transparent with the public and with victims.

“The concerns raised by the Chinook families go to the heart of why that law is needed. The duty of candour should apply in this case, and it should apply now.”

The Chinook families, and a cross-party group of MPs led by Sorcha Eastwood MP, say the law, which is designed to prevent state cover-ups and ensure transparency from public bodies, should apply swiftly to the Chinook disaster.

Sorcha Eastwood, MP for Lagan Valley, said: "Two years on from this Government's promise to deliver the Hillsborough Law, families across the UK are still waiting. With another anniversary of the disaster looming, every day of delay is a broken promise.

“The Chinook case must be among the first this legislation confronts - the evidence is overwhelming and beyond dispute. Since January alone, two members of our campaign group have passed away still seeking justice. The Hillsborough Bill must be passed urgently, and a full inquiry into Chinook must follow. These families have waited long enough."

Families said the meeting with the victims minister was an important step but warned that words must now be matched by action – both on the Hillsborough Law and the Chinook crash.

Chris Cook, whose brother Rick was killed and was posthumously, wrongly, blamed for the crash along with co-pilot Jonathan Tapper, said: “The lies and cover-up are happening daily, and the MoD continues to make misleading, false and disingenuous statements about the crash to cover its own mistakes.

“Today we have taken our calls for a full public inquiry under the Hillsborough Law directly to the victims minister, alongside a formal complaint about the Ministry of Defence’s continued failure to engage properly with the evidence.

“If the Hillsborough Law is about candour from the state, then the Chinook campaign should be the one of the first cases to test that candour.”

The letter to the MoD states: “In our meeting with Ministry of Defence Ministers in December, we made it unequivocally clear that the repeated assertion that the Chinook crash was “an accident” which “ has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review” is both inaccurate and profoundly offensive to the families affected.

“During that meeting, we presented detailed and irrefutable evidence demonstrating that the crash was not an accident, but the result of serious airworthiness failures. We also outlined our grave concerns that relevant evidence was not disclosed by the Ministry of Defence to previous inquiries and that they had to be put in place because the Ministry of Defence had blamed two innocent dead pilots with gross negligence.

“When we met you, you acknowledged our concerns, committed to reviewing the evidence provided, and assured us that you would respond. We were encouraged by what was described as the beginning of an ongoing and constructive dialogue.

“However, three months on, we have received no substantive response. Worse still, despite our explicit request that the Ministry cease using language that we have explained is both misleading and deeply distressing, the same lines continue to be used in public statements.

“This weekend’s media coverage surrounding the death of the last surviving parent of one of the victims again included the same assertion that the crash was an accident and that previous inquiries have resolved the matter.

We cannot overstate the distress this causes to the families, particularly given that these concerns were clearly and directly communicated to you all. The continued use of these statements, despite that engagement, is not only disingenuous but demonstrates a troubling disregard for the families affected and for the evidence we have presented.”