Last Chinook victim’s parent dies aged 96 after nearly 32-year wait for answers, as families prepare to meet Victims Minister
Campaigners believe the MoD’s delaying tactics mean fewer of them will survive to see the truth emerge and demand urgent response to dossier of evidence handed over more than three months ago
18th March, 2026
PRESS RELEASE
The father of one of the victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook helicopter disaster has died aged 96 after spending more than three decades seeking answers about how his son died.
John Dockerty, whose eldest son Major Christopher Dockerty was among the 29 people killed when RAF Chinook ZD576 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre on 2 June 1994, was the oldest member of the long-running campaign for the truth about the disaster.
Campaigners believe John, from Suffolk, was the last surviving parent of anyone who died in the tragedy.
His death comes at a critical moment in the campaign.
Next week, families will travel to Parliament to meet the UK Government’s victims minister Alex Davies-Jones MP on Wednesday 25 March, after months of pressing for a response to the detailed dossier of evidence they presented to three Ministry of Defence ministers in December.
The dossier – much of it from official MoD papers uncovered by the campaign – contains information about the lack of airworthiness of the Mark 2 Chinook aircraft and is accompanied by 335 unanswered questions about the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Campaigners say the deaths of key figures connected to the case underline the urgency of resolving it and getting truth, transparency and justice for the 29.
In recent months the campaign has also lost its long-standing technical expert David Hill, whose detailed analysis of the aircraft and its systems helped raise serious questions about the official explanation for the crash.
Nicola Rawcliffe, daughter of John Dockerty and a member of the campaign group, from Diss, Norfolk, said: “My father spent the last 32 years wondering why his eldest son and my brother Chris died. He died still fighting for answers.
“He campaigned with dignity and determination, but it is heartbreaking that he has died without the government and MoD acknowledging the truth about the circumstances surrounding the crash. He told me he was disgusted that it has been allowed to fester for as long as it has without the government getting to the bottom of things. Shame on the MoD for letting yet another relative die without answers.
“We are devastated by the loss of my father and horrified that he never saw justice for Chris. It is bad enough that a parent has to bury their child, but a parent having to ask the State as to why they died adds insult to injury.”
Mr Dockerty recorded several videos last year, thanking the campaign group and supporters for carrying on the fight to get answers and expressing disgust at the MoD. Since his death, Nicola has uncovered letters he wrote following the crash saying that he never believed the two pilots were to blame, demanding the truth from the MOD, and better treatment and equipment for service personnel.
Together with albums containing condolence letters and cards, Nicola’s parents had collated an extensive foolscap folder containing scores of newspaper reports about the crash over the last three decades.
Niven Phoenix, whose father Ian Phoenix was killed in the crash, said the loss of two central figures in the campaign within months had deepened the families’ determination.
“For years we have feared that the state, the MoD and the system simply hopes and expects campaigners to die before the truth emerges.
“Many of the official files relating to the disaster are sealed for 100 years. In the last three months we have lost our technical expert David Hill and now John Dockerty, the last surviving parent of one of the victims. Our thoughts are with Nicola and all of her family.
“When we meet the victims minister - who is responsible for the Hillsborough Law - we want her to recognise that as families we are all victims of the state and victims of a massive injustice.
“If the Hillsborough Law is to deliver candour from the state - and the Prime Minister needs to get it delivered as promised - then the Chinook campaign should be the first case to test that candour and challenge decades of concealment.
“The only way for our case to be resolved is for a judge-led public inquiry and an apology from the MoD and the state for sending those on board to their deaths on what MoD papers prove was an unairworthy helicopter.”
The Boeing Chinook crash killed 29 people, including 25 of Britain’s most senior intelligence experts and four Special Forces crew travelling from RAF Aldergrove, Belfast, to a security conference at Fort George, near Inverness.
The MoD says it is reviewing the files handed over to ministers in December but has so far failed to respond in detail or to schedule a further meeting with the families, with whom ministers promised ongoing dialogue. The government has also refused a public inquiry.
Mark Stephens CBE, from Howard Kennedy LLP and solicitor for the families, said: “These families are not simply bereaved. They are victims who have spent more than three decades trying to establish the truth about how their loved ones died.
“The continued refusal to fully address the serious questions surrounding the crash has left many of them suffering what psychologists describe as ambiguous loss.
“That is the trauma that occurs when families are denied clear answers about what happened. It prevents proper closure and prolongs grief across generations. John’s death highlights the real human tragedy that these families are facing at the hands of the state- being denied the truth about the circumstances surrounding their loved ones deaths.
“That is why this meeting with the victims minister is so important. The Government must recognise that these families are themselves victims of the state and deserve truth, transparency and accountability.”
John Dockerty’s funeral will take place at the end of this month.
