Victims Minister pledges to raise Chinook case with PM and takes up concerns with defence ministers over recent MoD press statements

Widows and families speak truth to power as minister recognises trauma and agrees to raise their case with Downing Street

The UK Government’s Victims Minister has pledged to raise concerns directly with the Ministry of Defence over its language in public statements about the 1994 RAF Chinook crash, following a highly emotional meeting with families in Parliament.

At the meeting, Alex Davies-Jones MP also agreed to raise the families’ case with the Prime Minister and acknowledged the profound and ongoing trauma they have endured over more than three decades.

Campaigners said the Minister recognised the impact of misleading official statements which suggest previous inquiries have considered all the circumstances surrounding the crash – which they have not - and describing the crash as “an accident” which families say has caused further distress.

The commitments come after the families filed a formal complaint with the MoD – and set out in detail the human impact of the disaster and its aftermath with the victims minister, including what they describe as years of unanswered questions, lack of transparency and repeated re-traumatisation.

Speaking publicly about the crash for the first time, Shan Gregory-Smith, from Surrey, whose husband Lieutenant Colonel Richard Gregory-Smith was killed in the crash, spoke directly to the Minister about the need for honesty and accountability.

“In a democracy in the 21st century, this should have been resolved long ago,” she said.

“We need honesty, transparency and basic decency from the state. Our loved ones were loyal public servants. That loyalty has never been returned to us.

“For more than 30 years we have simply been asking for the truth. That is what any bereaved family deserves.”

She also described the long-term impact on families, adding: “You need to understand why someone has died to begin to come to terms with it. That has been denied to us for decades.

“I am now in my seventies. Would you want to wait 32 years to understand how your loved one died?”

The RAF Chinook crash on 2 June 1994 killed 29 people, including 25 of Britain’s most senior intelligence experts. Official papers – not considered by any previous inquiry – show that the aircraft was not airworthy. RAF test pilots and engineers were forbidden from flying the aircraft, which was deemed “positively dangerous.”

Gaynor Tobias, from Watford, whose husband John was killed in the crash, described the devastating and lifelong consequences for families.

“I was 44 when my husband died, with two young boys aged ten and eight,” she said.

“Being told your husband is dead and having to tell your children their father is not coming back is the worst thing imaginable.

“That grief has been made worse by the lack of truth and transparency. We have never been given clear answers, and that has stayed with us and our children throughout their lives.”

She added: “We are all victims. We have suffered loss, trauma and decades of uncertainty.

“The Ministry of Defence investigated itself. It marked its own homework. There was no independence, and that is why we are still fighting today.”

During the meeting, families also highlighted that more than 30 years on, hundreds of questions about the crash remain unanswered, and that official files relating to the disaster are sealed for 100 years.

The Chinook Justice Campaign said afterwards that they welcomed the Minister’s willingness to engage and her commitment to raise their concerns at the highest levels of government.

However, they stressed that meaningful progress must now follow.

Niven Phoenix, from Oxfordshire, whose father Ian Phoenix was killed in the crash, said: “We are grateful to the Minister for listening and for recognising the trauma these families have been through.

“But this now needs to lead to action. We cannot continue to see language used by the Ministry of Defence that we have repeatedly explained is misleading and deeply distressing.

“We hope the Minister will now take this forward with the Prime Minister and ensure that our case is finally addressed.”

The RAF Chinook crash on 2 June 1994 killed 29 people, including 25 of Britain’s most senior intelligence experts.

The families, supported by Sorcha Eastwood MP, said the Chinook case should be among the first to which the Hillsborough Law is applied, arguing it is exactly the kind of injustice the duty of candour was designed to address.