§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2003,Official Report, column 244W, on Iraq, with reference to the conclusion of the Navy Board of Inquiry into the Death of Marine Maddison, if he will order an independent inquiry into the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch; and if he will make a statement. [163147]
§ Mr. IngramThe facts surrounding the first Special Investigation Branch investigation of the death of Marine Maddison have been established by a Naval Board of Inquiry. All the lessons to be learned from this fatality are being vigorously pursued, and we await the independent verdict of a Coroner's Inquest. A further independent inquir would serve no purpose.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay the decision of his Department to claim, originally, that the death of Marine Maddison was caused through enemy action; at what level the decision was made to support and publicise this claim; and if he will make a statement. [163167]
§ Mr. IngramThe Department's initial position reflected the conclusion of the early, in-theatre investigation of Marine Maddison's death. When its conclusion that he Was killed by enemy forces was found to be in error, this new information was conveyed at once to his next of kin with our deepest regrets. The error has also been fully acknowledged in public since the relevant Board of Inquiry was completed in December 2003.