Our families were killed in Britain's deadliest helicopter crash… 100-year-old secret NEEDS to be unsealed

Scottish Sun

7 days ago

The Ministry of Defence are being accused of a cover up
AIR TRAGEDY Our families were killed in Britain's deadliest helicopter crash… 100-year-old secret NEEDS to be unsealed
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THE families of those tragically killed in Britain's deadliest helicopter crash are still demanding answers more than 30 years on.
All 25 passengers and four crew members died when a RAF Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, on June 2 1994.
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A RAF Chinook helicopter crashed in Scotland in 1994 killing all 29 passengers
Credit: PA
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Pilots Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook who were exonerated in 2011 after they were initially blamed for the disaster
Credit: Handout
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The victims' families are now calling for a public inquiry into the full circumstances of what happened
Credit: PA
The Chinook ZD576 took off from RAF Aldergrove near Belfast at 5.42pm headed for Fort George in Scotland - 20 minutes later it crashed into a hillside.
Among those killed were experts from the Security Services, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army including the majority of the UK's senior Northern Ireland intelligence and counter-terrorism experts at the time.
It has gone down in history as one of the RAF's worst ever peacetime disasters - but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has sealed documents relating to it until 2094.
Now, the Chinook Justice Campaign is demanding answers and accountability for the circumstances surrounding the disaster, calling for a full judge-led inquiry to review the documents they say were not included in previous investigations.
The group, formed by family members of the victims, has also launched legal action after the MoD ignored their calls to order such an inquiry, saying it is a breach of the UK government's human rights obligations.
Jenni Balmer Hornby, 44, from Tooting was just a week away from her 10th birthday when her father, Anthony Hornby, was killed in the crash.
She told The Sun: "I remember coming down in the morning, me and my brother, and my Mum told us and we just screamed and screamed.
"I remember watching the TV, watching all the news reports and seeing this charred landscape of the Mull of Kintyre and just thinking he's going to come over that hill any minute.
"I absolutely idolised him when I was younger."
The pilots of the Chinook were Flight Lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, both of whom had exemplary records as members of the special forces.
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They were initially blamed for the disaster for gross negligence, a verdict that was only overturned by the UK Government after a 17-year campaign.
"The MoD besmirched their incredible careers with that verdict for 17 years and it's disgusting," Jenni said.
"When someone dies in the armed forces, one of the few things you have to hold on to is the pride in their career and what they've achieved."
The victims' families claim there is evidence that their loved ones were forced to board an RAF helicopter that was not airworthy - evidence they say was withheld or ignored in previous investigations.
The MoD's testing centre at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, had declared the Chinook "unairworthy" prior to the crash.
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Jenni Balmer Hornby was just a week away from her 10th birthday when her father, Anthony Hornby MBE, was killed in the crash
Credit: Supplied
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Jenni said she 'idolised' her father
Credit: Supplied
A campaign spokesperson said: "No inquiry to date - whether individually or collectively - has properly examined why our loved ones were placed aboard an aircraft which MOD test engineers at Boscombe Down, warned was 'positively dangerous' due to fatal flaws in its software.
"The helicopter was declared 'not to be relied upon in any way whatsoever.'
"Why were those service personnel put on an aircraft which the MoD's most experienced test pilots were forbidden to fly the day before the fatal crash?'
The Chinook Justice campaign was born after the families discovered the official files had been sealed for a century through a BBC documentary on the disaster in 2024.
Jenni added: "They didn't notify us of this, that our loved ones' records were being sealed - we had to find out through a TV programme.
"I think everyone, without a shadow of a doubt, is sure that there is a cover up here."
Lucy Sparks, 33, was only two-years-old when her own father, Gary Sparks, died in 1994 and branded the MoD's behaviour as a "shameful".
"I'm appalled really how they've held themselves over the years.
"I mean, blaming the pilots in the first instance, knowing that wasn't the case, and those poor pilots' families that had to campaign and campaign and campaign.
"The way they have conducted themselves is shameful and I think if this is how they treat people who worked for them, who were fighting for their country, fighting for peace in Ireland - it's abhorrent.
"My family and I were appalled to learn that the documents had been locked up to 2094.
"My daughter will be in her 70s, we will all be dead, and it just really begs the question as to why they are doing that - it's unprecedented."
She added that "we very much believe this is a cover-up" and a general pattern of behaviour from a government trying to save face, citing the sub-postmasters, infected blood scandal to nuclear veterans and now the Afghan data leak.
"You see these things all the time - powerful institutions trying to quieten people like us and not take accountability and blame - it's a disgrace."
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Esme and Lucy Sparks (right) who was only two-years-old when own father died in 1994
Credit: Supplied by the Chinook Justice Campaign
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Major Gary Paul Sparks was one of the 29 passengers on the Chinook helicopter
Credit: Supplied by the Chinook Justice Campaign
The MoD have said the disaster was a "tragic accident" but have argued a Public Inquiry would not "identify any new evidence".
A MoD spokesperson said: 'The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died.
"We understand that the lack of certainty about the cause of the crash has added to the distress of the families.
'We provided a detailed and considered response to the pre-action protocol letter stating the reasons why we cannot accept the demand for establishing a new Public Inquiry. It's unlikely that a Public Inquiry would identify any new evidence or reach new conclusions on the basis of existing evidence.
'The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent Judge-led review.'
The MoD have also stated that the closed records, which are held at The National Archives, contain personal information relating to third party individuals and the release of this information would breach their data protection rights.
But the families' legal team have argued otherwise.
Mark Stephens, solicitor for the families said: We are taking legal action for the families because the MoD did not protect the right to life of the 29 people on board.
"None of the previous inquiries properly looked into the full circumstances surrounding the crash. We went a judge to be able to look at the files that have been squirrelled away.
"Data protection rules do not trump people's lives and should not be abused to hide the culpable and responsible at the top of the MoD from accountability and scrutiny."
Andy Tobias, 41, from Watford, was eight when his father, Lieutenant Colonel John Tobias, 41, lost his life in the Kintyre crash.
Speaking on the MoD's statement, he said: "It's nonsense, more deceit, more deception, more delay tactics.
"We're calling them the Ministry of Deceit because they are just deceiving us.
"We are fed up and frustrated with it, but we're still united, we're strong and we're defiant and we're going to keep pushing really, really hard until we get the truth that we all deserve.
Just this week, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, refused their calls for an inquiry in a letter to Andy who called the response "utterly pathetic".
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Andy Tobias called the MoD's statement 'nonsense'
Credit: Supplied by the Chinook Justice Campaign
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Andy Tobias, was eight when his father lost his life in the Kintyre crash
Credit: Supplied by the Chinook Justice Campaign
In the letter, the PM said he does "not believe that a new inquiry can bring any greater certainty" siding with the MoD in saying the records sealed away "offer no insights into the crash".
Furious Andy responded, saying: "The Prime Minister talks the talk about transparency but he's just slammed the door in our face.
"He says the government is committed to transparency and accountability, but on the other hand - we'll just seal away the files for a century and tell us bereaved families there's nothing to see here.
"The PM should stand full square behind his professed duty of candour on public bodies - instead he's hiding behind the deceitful MOD.
"I'm sickened and so are all the other families fighting for truth and transparency - there is everything to be concerned about the run up to this crash."
When requested to comment, the Prime Minister's office said the letter and the MoD's statement illustrate the government's position.
And when Jenni tried to get in touch with veterans minister, Alastair Carns after connecting with him on LinkedIn, she was ignored.
She said she sent the MP a "very emotional, personal message" which he read and never responded.
"It was quite personal - I described the emotional toll, the grief as like a chronic disease," Jenni said.
"He didn't even bother responding with a fob off or platitudes like he's been giving everyone else - it's so dishonourable.
"He's a veteran for Christ's sake - it's supposed to be a brotherhood and he just doesn't care.
"It's all about the MoD party line and saving face for them and this is our lives."
The Sun has reached out to Alastair Carns for comment.
Conservative MP, Sir David Davis, who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into the crash, came out in support of a new inquiry last month.
"I followed and campaigned on this for a decade afterwards and we were never given the truth about the technical status of the aircraft," he said in an interview with Sky News.
"It needs to be put in the public domain these documents and to put them under seal for a century is extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary.
"As somebody said, it does indicate that they're trying to cover something up."
The Conservative MP, Sir Liam Fox, recently said on the Political Currency podcast, hosted by former chancellor George Osborne, that he now had 'doubts' that the airworthiness issue had been properly investigated previously.
Asked what it would mean for the Chinook campaign to succeed, all three of Jenni, Lucy and Andy agreed it would provide "closure".
Lucy said: "I think it's, it's, it's really about closure for the families, when there has been this sense of unknowing for that time but it's also about justice, it's about justice for our dads, and it's about accountability from the Ministry of Defence."
"It would really mean the world to all of us, it would mean peace - you know, this has been 31 years," added a tearful Jenni.
"I can't wait another 31 years, I'm so certain that something is amiss here - but it's not like it's going to be a happy outcome.
"I'm sure that it's a cover-up, so when we finally get that proved, I'm going to be very angry."
"It would mean for me and for other families that we can hopefully get some closure," Andy said.
"Not that you ever really get closure after you lose a loved one, but at least it gives us the opportunity to know more around the circumstances of that crash and why all those men and women boarded that flight.
"We'll keep pushing very, very hard until we get the truth."
The Chinook Justice Campaign has launched an online petition that has already seen more than 25,000 signatures.