Specialist Lawyers Pursuing Legal Action On Behalf of Victims

Lawyers representing family members of personnel who died when two RAF Tornado jets crashed off the Scottish coast say that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has admitted liability for one of the deaths paving the way for the families to receive crucial settlements.

Irwin Mitchell Scotland acts for the wife and daughter of 36-year-old Squadron Leader Samuel Bailey from Nottingham who died in the incident involving two Tornado GR4s from RAF Lossiemouth in July 2012. Two others also died in the incident while a fourth was badly injured.

A report by the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) published today (30 June 2014) said there were opportunities to prevent the mid-air collision and noted that there was no collision warning system (CWS) on board the Tornado fleet despite previous recommendations. The report makes more than 50 recommendations including the completion of the CWS which was approved after the crash despite being recommended in the 1990s and identified in 2008.

Now insurers acting for the MoD have confirmed to Irwin Mitchell Scotland that they will accept responsibility for the death of Squadron Leader Bailey and lawyers are now working on gathering information to bring the cases to a fair conclusion.

Elaine Russell, a Partner at Irwin Mitchell Scotland representing the victim’s family, said:

Squadron Leader Bailey’s wife, Fiona, was also in the RAF and was on duty on the base when the incident occurred. She says it is a relief to finally have some closure on the situation.

Fiona Bailey, 37, said: “Getting this admission of liability is extremely important to me and our daughter in that my husband’s good name has been maintained and no fault has been attached to his actions in the incident.

“Our lives were devastated back in July 2012 and we have waited a long time to find out exactly what went wrong on that day. We are relieved that we will now finally see some justice for what happened.”

Irwin Mitchell Scotland is also representing 17 victims of the Clutha helicopter crash in Glasgow last year and successfully acted on behalf of the families of victims of a Nimrod aircraft accident which ran to full civil jury trials against the MOD in 2011 and resulted in the highest ever damages awarded for a bereavement in Scotland.

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Military Injury Claims.