Memorandum from Mrs Norma Langford
I would firstly like to introduce myself; I
am Norma Langford, my son Corporal Ian Holt died in Belize in
1991 in a non-combat situation. In December 2004 along with other
members of Deepcut & Beyond I gave evidence to the Defence
Select Committee on a Duty of Care. Since then I have assisted
Lynn Farr in the setting up of Daniel's Trust (fighting against
bullying in the armed forces) and I also assist Elaine Higgins,
the steering group member for overseas in the Deepcut & Beyond
Campaign.
I would like to add to the evidence already submitted
by Daniel's Trust and Deepcut & Beyond, by relating to you
my own concerns on the investigation of deaths, complaints and
grievances of service personnel overseas.
When a death occurs overseas the local civilian police
do not always get involved and the investigation is left to the
Special Investigation Branch (SIB) and/or the Military Police
(MP). This in itself is the army investigating the army. Even
if the incident is investigated by civilian police the family
may never see or have access to their findings of the investigation.
My own personal experience is never having known what happened
to the third party involved in my sons' death. Another problem
that has risen in overseas deaths is inadequate documentation
and I believe these are examples that show the very necessary
need for an Independent Oversight of the armed forces. An Independent
System by dealing with the above in overseas camps could in my
opinion compliment the chain of command allowing them to carry
on with operational duties.
Another problem I have encountered concerning personnel
overseas is parents of young soldiers not knowing where to go
or who to speak to when the recruit calls home and asks for help.
Sometimes the situations are quite grave and parents have had
nothing solved by telephoning someone in the camp. The distance
between the parents and young person emphasises the urgency of
getting in touch with someone who can swiftly and efficiently
deal with the situation. If there was an Independent System in
action that had no "off-limit areas" in the UK and on
overseas bases the above problems could become a thing of the
past. With an Independent System being in place I feel the majority
of grievances and complaints will be reported directly by the
recruit, because the genuine fear that some recruits have of a
repercussion of reporting an incident would have been alleviated
by using an Independent System.
Something I came across first hand is, recruits induction
not being informative enough to know who to go to and who to see
on camp if they have a problem. The recruits in question were
young men just finishing their training and ready to face the
world. My concern here is if they did not know who could help
them in a training camp, how would they cope overseas. With a
proper induction into the working mechanism of an Independent
Complaints System the continuity would carry through their entire
career no matter where they were stationed.
February 2006
| 
