Families of those who have died or injured i have asked Des Browne, to meet with the families to explain why British soldiers are still being sent on patrol or in convoys in Snatch Land Rovers. The MOD are fully aware of the dangers and know that Snatch offer little or no protection against the type of explosive devices being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also know of the concerns voiced by military experts as well as those serving in these conflicts and their families. There was a review of armoured vehicles in June/ July 2006 but this did not lead to Snatch Land Rovers being taken out of theatre. at my son`s inquest in January this year the Coroner said that it was outside her Jurisdiction to investigate whether Snatch Land Rover should be used. I felt let down by the Inquest which only lasted 3 hours and therefore contacted a solicitor to see if anything could be done. As the deaths in Snatch continue to stack up I and others have been moved to take this matter up with the Secretary of State and on the 3rd September we wrote to ask him to meet with us. If you want to be added to the list or have information about Snatch which might help Please get in touch with my solicitor there is power in numbers so please email my solicitor Jocelyn Cockburn at jcockburn@hodgejonesallen.co.uk
Our son`s are gone we must try to stop other`s dieing in the same way

Sue Smith (mother of Phillip Hewett -died in a Snatch Land Rover in Iraq 16 July 2005)    

            JCockburn@hodgejonesallen.co.uk
    

Edited by carol - 04 Sep 2007 at 8:56pm

Hi Elaine and thanks for highlighting this issue No we will never have a BOARD OF ENQUIRY has the MOD say there was nothing they could do to stop the ACCIDENT from happening. So they just get away with the continued neglect of other people`s children.It is just a shame know other families feel it is worth trying to stop the use of these bloody death trap`s after Iraq there will be another one.Iraq i mean somewhere else to go and fight a war. Phillip died because of a lack of ARMOUR on those SNATCH an 11 year old land rover used in a war situation most of the people reading this site have younger car`s unless you can`t afford better so there is the answer it all come`s down to a lack of funding for our armed forces They know if your son dies in another country it will not matter what they are in because you can not touch them it all need`s to change.
    

Edited by mfsg - 02 Oct 2007 at 7:40am

Hi Elaine we have not yet had a response from Des Brown not that i am surprised by that You know Elaine it really is a joke yet another Inquiry in to the death of Princess Diane more money wasted on this and my Son didn`t even get a Board of Inquiry a 3 hour inquest and sod all else. I met her on 2 occasions and thought she was a lovely person. I honestly believe there was a tragic accident. My son was also a wonderful person blown up by a roadside bomb that was not an accident and yet he appears to not be worthy of any more than he got! piss`s me off   
    
    

Edited by mfsg - 02 Oct 2007 at 7:44pm

I can honestly say that I do not have any feelings one way or the other about Diane's inquest, barring the fact it has taken 10 years to get here.  And what will it prove now.

Why is it refused because of Health & Safety reasons, what exactly does that mean?  We have seen photos of them in newspapers haven't we, is there something more specific in Phillip's case?