Campaigners are calling on new Defence Secretary John Hutton to clear two RAF Odiham pilots blamed for the 1994 Scottish Chinook helicopter crash.

The Mull of Kintyre tragedy, the country’s worst peacetime military air accident, killed 25 leading members of the Northern Ireland security forces.

It also claimed the lives of four RAF Odiham crew, including Flt Lts Jonathan Tapper and Rick Cook, whose father John lived in Church Crookham for many years before he died in May 2005.

An RAF Board of Inquiry failed to find a cause for the crash.

But two air marshals overturned the inquiry’s findings and charged the two dead pilots with its responsibility through gross negligence.

Former Defence Secretary Des Browne set up a review of the cause of the Chinook crash almost a year ago.

It is understood that Mr Browne, who was recently sacked from his post, was on the brink of making an announcement on the case before he left office. Campaigners believe that he was waiting for one final report from officials before making a decision. Now they want an urgent decision his replacement Mr Hutton.

MP James Arbuthnot, whose North East Hampshire constituency covers RAF Odiham, has made repeated calls for the government to overturn the verdict against the pilots. He is hopeful that Mr Hutton can now act to clear the dead pilots’ names.

Mr Arbuthnot told the News: “The new secretary of state will be very busy in his new role, but I do hope that he will be able to take some time to consider the compelling evidence brought to light by the campaigners and families in the Mull of Kintyre group.”

Flt Lt Tapper, 30, from Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, and Flt Lt Cook, 28, from Church Crookham, were initially cleared of blame by an RAF board of inquiry. It ruled it was impossible to establish the exact cause of the crash, and a fatal accident inquiry reached the same conclusion.

But that was overturned by two senior RAF officers, Air Vice-Marshal John Day and Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten, who ruled the pilots were guilty of gross negligence for flying too fast and too low in thick fog.

However, despite a cross-party committee of peers finding that the pilots could not be blamed, the Ministry of Defence has refused to change its mind.

Campaigners fighting to clear the dead pilots’ names were concerned that Mr Browne had a significant potential conflict of interest in the case because he combined his role of Secretary of State for Defence with that of Secretary of State for Scotland.
Mr Browne’s Scottish replacement Jim Murphy will now discuss the matter with Mr Hutton.

Scottish Government Minister Jim Mather hopes the move can now bring the case to a successful close.

Mr Mather said: “I hope that the change in cabinet personnel might result in this shameful situation being quickly rectified and the finding of the Ministry of Defence being reversed.

“We were led to believe that Des Browne was about to give serious consideration to fresh evidence that was presented to his department at the start of this year.”

Mr Mather pointed out that Flt Lts Tapper and Cook, who had exemplary records, were initially cleared of blame for the crash. He said a RAF board ruled that its cause was impossible to establish and a local fatal accident inquiry confirmed this finding.

Mr Mather added: “Nonetheless, two senior RAF officers overruled these verdicts and overturned the findings. Subsequent evidence indicating the Chinook’s navigational systems could be at fault has been studiously ignored.

“The MoD, notoriously inflexible once a wrong decision has been taken, has refused to budge although a series of senior cabinet ministers, including John Major, Malcolm Rifkind and Martin O’Neill, have called for a review.”

Mr Mather said a cross-party campaign group continues to lobby for a review. He added: “Now with a new Scottish Secretary and a new Defence Secretary in place may we hope that the one can influence the other to rectify a serious injustice that only serves to heighten the tragedy that took place on the hillside at the Mull of Kintyre.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The issue is under consideration by the new Defence Secretary and an announcement will be made in due course.”