Judge warns MoD on troops equipment

Senior judge Mr Justice Collins declared that it could breach British soldiers' human rights to send troops out on patrol or into battle with defective equipment.

The decision potentially has important implications for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Defence Secretary Des Browne and the Ministry of Defence believes the judge has got the law wrong and are to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: "This shattering ruling for Des Browne will hopefully at last wake the Government up to equipment shortages on the frontline which threaten the lives of our troops."

MoD lawyers had argued that it was "impossible to afford to soldiers who were on active service outside their bases the benefits of the Human Rights Act".

Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, said it had to be recognised that the lives of members of the armed forces when sent to fight or keep order abroad "cannot receive absolute protection".

Then he added: "But the soldier does not lose all protection simply because he is in hostile territory carrying out dangerous operations. Thus, for example, to send a soldier out on patrol or, indeed, into battle with defective equipment could constitute a breach of Article 2 (right to life) under the European Convention on Human Rights."

The judge also rejected the Defence Secretary's bid to ban coroners from using phrases such as "serious failure" - implying criticism of the Ministry of Defence and its agents - in verdicts on soldiers who have died on active service.

The mothers of two young soldiers killed in Iraq who failed this week in their House of Lords attempt to force a public inquiry into the conflict welcomed the ruling. Rose Gentle and Beverley Clarke, who took their battle for an inquiry to the law lords, said it could aid their own fight for compensation.