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Coroner wants better equipment and protection for troops

19/02/2008

Wiltshire coroner David Masters has called for better equipment to be provided to British troops after ruling that four soldiers were unlawfully killed in Iraq.

The four soldiers had been travelling in an armoured Warrior vehicle when a road-side bomb in Basra ripped through the underside of vehicle.

The vehicle possesses armour on its top and sides but not on the bottom.

Corporal Kris O'Neill, 27, from Catterick and Private Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, from Southampton, of the Royal Army Medical Corps were killed in the blast on April 5th 2007.

Kingsman Adam James Smith, 19, from Liverpool, of 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and Second Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, 24, who attended Sandhurst with Prince William, also died.

Mr Maters recorded verdicts of unlawful killing and called for better protection for troops in the future.

Alan Hepper, an armour expert, told the inquest earlier: "It's a big issue. We have been told to see it as an urgent operational requirement. It is being pushed through with great pressure form the Ministry of Defence."

The coroner claimed he would be meeting with defence minister Bob Ainsworth this week to recommend better armour protection for British troops and would "seek confirmation from the top that something was being done".