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Deaths in 2001 No details
of deaths available
Click on the names below for further case details
Deaths in 2007 No details
of deaths available
FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS Barry Savage
Barry, a maintenance engineer at the bakery, fell from a platform while unjamming a bread cooling machine. The fall resulted in brain haemorrhage and Barry died 12 hours later in hospital. The inquest was held at Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court on 22 June 2002. Colin Littleford, who was acting as supervisor at the time of the incident, said the way Barry was attempting to unjam the machine was common practice. Health and Safety Inspector Edward Pascoe told the inquest this particular method of unjamming the machine was not formal company procedure and was something the engineers had come up with themselves. The company had since been ordered to stop the practice and to conduct a risk assessment. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Afterwards Jayne Savage, Barry's widow, said, 'We accept this was a sad accident but it was an accident that could have been prevented.' On 29 July 2005 Fine Lady Bakeries Ltd were fined £150,000 at Oxford Crown Court for breaches of health and safety legislation and ordered to pay £26,054 in costs. The company had pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at an earlier hearing. Matthew Lee, HM Inspector of Safety and Health, said, 'Maintenance activities cause a considerable number of serious and fatal incidents each year and companies should ensure that such activities are adequately planned and safe work practices are established.'
Terry Lloyd
Terry, an independant journalist, working in Iraq to cover the 2nd Gulf War was shot dead. Terry, not 'embedded' with the armies of USA and UK, was reporting independently from the desert when he was killed in a cross-fire. Terry's interpreter Hussein Osman was also killed and his cameraman Fred Nerac was missing, believed dead, following the shooting near Basra. The inquest was held at Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court in October 2006 and returned a verdict of 'Unlawful Killing'. In February 2007 Scotland Yard's war crimes unit launched an investigation into Terry's killing. An official inquiry by detectives got under way into how Terry died from a bullet fired into the back of a makeshift civilian ambulance by American marines. Officers from the Metropolitan Police's Crimes Against Humanity team are looking to send officers to the US. It also emerged that British authorities had obtained the identities of the men responsible for the killing - a major breakthrough following the Pentagon's refusal to sanction the release of their names. The US authorities refused to pass on their details to the Coroner during the inquest. Louis Charalambous, solicitor for Lloyd's widow Lynn, said, 'The US authorities have told us who they are and now we need to find out whether they will allow us to interview the soldiers.' The names of 16 US marines who were present when Terry was unlawfully killed in southern Iraq were revealed by his employer ITN in March 2007. ITN said that one of the named men 'almost certainly' fired the shot that killed him. The marines were cleared by an internal American inquiry but the Coroner called on the attorney general to extradite the soldiers involved in the case, a call backed by the families of Terry and Fred Nerac. Fred Nerac's body was never found and his widow wants the marines to tell her what happened to her husband. Fabienne Nerac told ITN, 'Today we still have no certainty about what happened so I want them to know that and to help us, the family.' As a tribute to Terry, Hussein and Fred, and other journalists who have died in war zones, ITN is campaigning for a specific international crime of killing a journalist. The company argues that it would help to deter soldiers from killing journalists and emphasise the unique role played by war correspondents. The new law could be included in the Rome statute of 1998, which set up the international criminal court. Paul McLaughlin, broadcasting organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said, 'We welcome the move to put the names in the public domain. It's an important step forwards as we seek to bring Terry Lloyd's killers to justice.' He added, 'The targeting of journalists must be recognised as a crime internationally. Unfortunately thus far the US has shown contempt for the British justice system. The British government must insist that the US co-operate by extraditing the soldiers involved in this case.' In July 2008 Sue Hemming, head of the Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), announced that it was not possible to say who fired the fatal shot which killed Terry and so the CPS had advised the police there was insufficient evidence for any prosecution. Ms Hemming said, 'There is insufficient evidence at the current time to establish to the criminal standard the identity of the person who fired the bullet that killed Mr Lloyd. There is also insufficient evidence in relation to the chain of command to establish if there was any person responsible for the chain of events that led to the death of Mr Lloyd. This was an extremely complex and difficult investigation into what happened in a war zone outside Basra in March 2003, just days after coalition forces crossed into Iraq.' Terry and his team were in two cars heading towards Basra because they heard - wrongly - that an Iraqi armoured brigade had surrendered and they wanted to report on this. Ms Hemming said, 'It is clear from the forensic evidence that Mr Lloyd received injuries from both Iraqi and American bullets and the forensic evidence suggests that the injury which caused his death was fired from a US weapon. 'This was a particularly precarious situation and Mr Lloyd was not wearing the helmet or bullet proof vest which had been supplied to him. As the two cars crossed the bridge, Iraqi soldiers drove towards them and opened fire. The cars did a u-turn to head back towards the American forces, pursued by the Iraqis. The Americans believed that all the approaching vehicles were hostile and opened fire. 'Mr Lloyd was injured and although lying in the central reservation, was picked up by a Mitsubishi which was helping wounded Iraqi soldiers to leave the scene. Shots were fired at the Mitsubishi which the driver said came from the American position. When the Mitsubishi arrived at the hospital, the driver went to help Mr Lloyd from the back of the car and found he had been fatally injured." The sequence of events, said Ms Hemming, appeared to be that Mr Lloyd was first injured by a shot from the Iraqis and then was hit by a bullet from shots fired by the Americans at the Mitsubishi. This was borne out by the forensic evidence. She said, 'Having considered all the evidence gathered by UK Authorities and the evidence from the US, together with advice from counsel, we have decided there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution. I understand that this will be very upsetting news for the family and friends of Mr Lloyd but I can reassure them that every care was taken in pursuing lines of inquiry and reviewing the evidence.'
Paul Warburton
Paul, an award-winning farmer, died when he was run over by his own combine harvester while working on his farm near Wallingford Paul and worker Raymond Morris were stood with their backs to the vehicle when it rolled and Paul was run over. The inquest was held at Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court in 18 October 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Mr Morris, who had been driving the machine, told the jury he had put the hand brake on. The pair had got out of the combine harvester to remove debris caught up in the machinery, the inquest heard. Mr Morris was able to jump out the way when it began to roll down a hill towards them, but a wheel trapped Paul. He was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford but despite several attempts to revive him, he died of internal bleeding. When Mr Morris jumped back in the machine as it continued to roll down the hill, the hand brake was still on, he told jurors. Health and Safety inspector, Roger Upfold, said the rachet mechanism in the parking brake was worn to the point that, 'I would not want to rely on it but that was not obvious before the machine was dismantled. This is getting close to what we might call a "real accident" as opposed to other accidents we might investigate where there is some question of omission or commission,' he said.
Peter Taylor
Peter was killed when slabs of granite fell from a lorry which was being unloaded at Waterstock Farm. The inquest was held at Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court in 18 April 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Daniel Wright
Daniel, a captain in 18 UK Special Forces Regiment, died on his first day of training during his second jump over Weston-on-the-Green airfield when his main canopy failed to open properly and he deployed his reserve chute too late. Daniel fell 2,500ft to the ground and was killed instantly. The inquest was due to start at Oxford Coroner's Court in November 2007 but had to be delayed because of the ill-health of Coroner Andrew Walker. An army board of inquiry report into the incident which interviewed more than 50 witnesses concluded Daniel's parachute got stuck in the sleeve of his backpack. Despite making a raft of wide-ranging recommendations, from improvements to training and parachute checking procedures to an overhaul of 'inadequate' medical equipment and emergency first aid training, the inquiry concluded there were procedural or training failures contributing to Daniel's death. Daniel's mother, Carol Wright, said she hoped the inquest would provide more answers as to how such an incident could occur. She said the delay had in fact been helpful to the family. 'We will be represented by a close family member and it's given them a chance to study the case closely,' she said. 'We've been carrying out our own enquiries regarding the equipment and it's also given us more time to do this. What we want is for no stone to be left unturned and every possible avenue to be explored so we can find some resolution.' Carol Wright and her husband Irwin believed the use of two-way radio equipment could help in emergency situations but the army has ruled this out. The inquest eventually was held from 10 to 14 March 2008. Coroner Andrew Walker said he was satisfied Daniel would have lived had radios been used at the exercise. Instructors on the ground shouted to him to cut away the main parachute and deploy the reserve, but he was 1.5 seconds too late and died instantly. Recording a narrative verdict, he said, 'Let there be no doubt, this tragedy happened for the want of a simple, inexpensive piece of equipment.' Mr Walker said Daniel, a member of the Queen's Gurkha Signal Corps, was seen to calmly try to correct the problem with his main chute. A video played to the inquest showed footage of instructors on the ground shouting 'cut it away, get off it' meaning for him to cut away the main parachute and deploy the reserve. Daniel did deploy his reserve but was one-and-a-half seconds too late for it to save his life. Mr Walker said, 'Captain Wright misidentified the malfunction as one he should take action to remedy and, as a consequence, when he deployed his reserve parachute it did not have sufficient time to open. Captain Wright, on the balance of probability, would not have died had an operator on the ground at the drop zone been able to communicate with him using a radio. 'At the time Captain Wright took the parachute course, requests for these radios had been refused as funding was only available for essential items.' Mr Walker, the assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, said the officer's life would have been saved if he had been given a different type of reserve parachute which would have deployed automatically.
Sean Tansey
Sean, a lance corporal of the Household Cavalry Regiment, was killed as he repaired a damaged Scimitar tank at a base in near Sangin, in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The Ministry of Defence said Sean was an 'outstanding' gunner and driving and maintenance instructor and the troop leader's operator. The inquest was held at Oxford Coroner's Court in March 2008. In a narrative verdict, Coroner Andrew Walker said the lack of training and equipment given to the soldiers by the regiment amounted to neglect and, in the words of one witness, a gross failure. The inquest heard how Sean was serving with the Household Cavalry in Sangin during ferocious fighting in Helmand. The desert environment had taken its toll on the ageing British Army vehicles and they required constant repair and maintenance. L/Cpl Edward Sampson, who was helping Sean as they worked on the Spartan's broken torsion bar, told the court, 'There was a big clunk. The vehicle pitched forwards and Sean's head was underneath it.' Struggling to save their comrade, the soldiers did not have an adequate jack to lift the vehicle off his body and had to wait for a passing forklift to help them out. Sergeant Major Lee Hodges of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers told the Coroner that cushioning planks, known as 'skidding', employed to stop falling vehicles crushing soldiers, would have saved Sean's life. But Cpl Sampson said the team had no such planks, only 'some bits of shitty old pallet' and wood they found in a nearby orchard. When the Coroner asked if soldiers could refuse to do repair work on health and safety grounds, Cpl Sampson said, 'That's not the way the Army works. If you are told to do something you do it.' Mr Walker, the assistant deputy Oxfordshire coroner, commented, 'This was a matter for the MoD. It shouldn't be for soldiers to go foraging in a hostile environment to find chocks and skidding. The soldiers are caught between a rock and a hard place. If they repair a vehicle and it results in tragedy, they face criticism for that but they have no alternative but to make repairs. These are bits of wood – they are not expensive. 'I cannot begin to imagine the suffering of Lance Corporal Tansey's family. It seems to me that, from the beginning, they understood this was a tragedy that should not have happened. 'This court has heard evidence of the failure to provide basic equipment for the maintenance of vehicles, which has been described by one witness as amounting to a gross or serious failure. It is quite unfair that the soldiers should be criticised when their training was not adequate and equipment was not sufficient. For this reason, Lance Corporal Tansey lost his life ... His death was contributed to by neglect.' Fighting back tears Sean's grandfather John Atherton spoke after the verdict to say, 'The constant flow of bodies coming back is so tragic.' A MoD spokesman said, 'Alongside the findings of the Royal Military Police and MoD's own investigations, we note the Coroner's comments and will ensure lessons are learnt from this tragic incident.'
Michael Whateley
Michael, a tiler, died at the Cherwell Gate development in Banbury when the telehandle arm of a nine tonne fork lift fell on a car in which he was sitting. He had, along with his brother, just driven to work in the car. The site was being developed by Linden Homes. The inquest was held at Oxford Coroner's Court on 17 September 2008 when the jury returned a verdict of 'Accidental Death'. The inquest heard from Michael's brother who said he saw the telescopic arm of the vehicle falling towards his car. He shouted 'duck' and reached for the ignition but before he knew it he was trapped. He called out to his brother but did not get a reply. In a statement after the verdict the family said, 'Nothing can fill the gaping hole in our hearts and lives Michael's death has caused our family. Our aim is to establish accountability and responsibility for this incident to ensure steps are taken to prevent it happening again.' The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said in Spring 2009 that no decision on prosecution had yet been taken.
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