Talks to allay body parts mix-up

A coroner has requested a meeting between the Ministry of Defence and the families of 14 servicemen killed in an air crash in Afghanistan to allay their fears over a body parts mix-up.

The men, including 48-year-old Sergeant Gerard Bell, formerly of Brookside, Telford, were killed when a Nimrod spy plane crashed near Kandahar in September 2006.

Some remains of the troops who died were returned to the UK in the wrong coffins.

At a pre-inquest hearing yesterday, Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker heard that the families felt there had been "very little liaison" with the MoD over the matter.

He requested that a meeting be arranged in the next four weeks. He said: "I have every sympathy with the families and it is a very traumatic aspect but it is not a matter I can deal with as part of the inquest process.

"We will give every assistance to make sure this matter is properly resolved."

At the time the MoD confirmed there had been a "regrettable incident" but insisted it had been sorted out before the funerals of the servicemen.

David Evans, acting for the MoD, told the court the meeting would be a way in which the families' fears could be allayed over the matter.

At the hearing at Oxford Coroner's Court, Mr Walker also ordered that a number of documents including transcripts of the aircraft's mission tape, flying logbooks and a combustion report be made available for lawyers representing the families.

The deaths of the servicemen was the heaviest loss of life to be suffered by British forces in a single incident since the Falklands War.