Why? Inquest wait goes on for families of dead soldiers (UK)

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The Government has been accused of treating the families of dead servicemen with contempt and prolonging their agony by delaying inquests into their killings in Iraq.

For many grieving relatives, the coroner's court is their first chance to ask their own questions, while most insist it offers closure and a chance to move on.

But the families of almost two thirds of the 119 servicemen and women who have died in Iraq have not had inquests. Even the families of the first troops killed in the conflict, in a Sea Knight helicopter crash on 21 March 2003, have yet to have their day in court.

Ministers have repeatedly blamed a backlog at Oxford coroner's court as families were told that the inquests must be held there because the bodies were flown to RAF Brize Norton.

However, The Independent has learnt that the cases could easily have been transferred to other, less overloaded coroners, closer to the families' homes.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article1816853.ece