No aid for Hercules crash families

The relatives of a 10th person - Australian airman Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel - who also died when the transport aircraft crashed near Baghdad in January 2005 will receive financial help from their Government, according to BBC Online.

Sarah Chapman, sister of engineer Sgt Robert O'Connor who died in the crash, condemned the decision not to fund legal representatives for the families.

She told BBC Online: "I don't want to stand in a court-room and be barraged with information, I don't know what to do. The Government let those men down and they're still letting them down now and I want the public to know that."

Her solicitor Girish Thanki told the website the circumstances surrounding the incident were exceptional and would justify granting legal aid.

A Board of Inquiry found the crash was caused by hostile ground-to-air fire which caused an explosion in the right-hand wing tank which in turn tore part of the wing away from the plane. But some relatives want answers to reports that the aircraft's fuel tanks could have been filled with a specially-designed explosive suppressant foam but were not on cost grounds.

Similar US Air Force planes have for decades been supplied with the foam which stops the fuel igniting if tanks are shot.

After the 2005 crash the RAF began fitting the foam into Hercules aircraft but many planes are still without.

Defence Secretary Des Browne could be called to give evidence at the inquest, scheduled for March, after Coroner David Masters said he would consider a request from the British families to question a Government representative.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said it did not comment on individuals but added: "Legal aid for representation is not usually available for inquests because an inquest is a fact-finding process to determine who the deceased was and when, where and how he or she came by his or her death. It is not a trial."