Dead soldier's mother backs protest

The Daily Telegraph reported that Major Sebastian Morley is quitting in disgust over the deaths of four of his soldiers in Afghanistan who were killed when their Snatch hit a landmine earlier this year.

Defence sources insisted his departure was for "purely personal reasons". However, it is understood he was unhappy at the continued use of the Snatch despite its obvious vulnerability.

The newspaper reported that he believed Corporal Sarah Bryant - the first female soldier to die in Afghanistan - and three male colleagues, the SAS soldiers Corporal Sean Reeve, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin and Paul Stout, all died needlessly.

Rose Gentle's son Fusilier Gordon Gentle died when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in June 2004 in Basra. A vital piece of kit that could have protected the vehicle was later found to be lying unused in a nearby storeroom.

She said: "I'm glad that Major Morley is making a stand. I only hope that it means that the government will finally do something and withdraw these vehicles. It should have been done a long long time ago. The Government have been talking about replacing Snatch Land Rovers but they need to put their money where their mouth is now.

"I have been asking for this for four years. It is too late for Gordon and the others who have died but there are a lot of boys out there still who deserve better protection. They need the right equipment for the job."

In his resignation letter, Major Morley, the commander of D Squadron, 23 SAS, was said to have blamed "chronic under investment" in equipment by the Ministry of Defence for their deaths. The paper said he believed the MoD was guilty of "gross negligence" and that its failure to supply better equipment was "cavalier at best, criminal at worst".

Defence Equipment Minister Quentin Davies later dismissed Major Morley's reported complaints as a "travesty" which he found hard to take entirely seriously.

"There are a couple of things that are odd about this resignation. He said that he tried to alert the Ministry of Defence to the inadequacies as he saw it of his equipment," Mr Davies told BBC News. "I have asked several questions in the ministry ... and no one can trace any such communication from him. Maybe we will come up with it but it does seem rather surprising, the whole of that aspect."