Inquests

Following a lack of disclosure by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), we brought a Judicial Review under human rights law to challenge the verdict of an inquest into the death of Private Jason Smith.

In his final letter, Jason had told his mother he had suffered from extreme levels of dehydration. After repeatedly telling medical staff he was feeling unwell, Jason collapsed, suffered a cardiac arrest, and died in Al ‘Amārah.

As Jason’s mother began to recover from the initial shock, she started to put questions to the army, but was unable to get answers about if anything had gone wrong. She began to suspect that Jason had lost his life unnecessarily.

Catherine began to look around for help and independent advice, but was wrongly directed back to the MOD. Jason’s mother made contact with our Military Claims team. She was advised that the army may have been in breach of Jason’s right to life under the Human Rights Act, and that she had a right to find out what happened.

In June 2010, Jason’s case was decided by the Supreme Court. It found that the Human Rights Act did apply to soldiers in military camps abroad. The Coroner from the original hearing proceeded to state he had been wrong to proceed with the 2006 inquest without all the information.