Background

Hodge Jones & Allen, a leading civil liberties law firm, appointed Byfield Consultancy to promote two landmark cases brought against the Ministry of Defence that will help determine the legal treatment of British troops.

Hodge Jones & Allen Partner Jocelyn Cockburn represented Catherine Smith who launched legal action against the Ministry of Defence regarding the death of her son, Private Jason Smith, by heatstroke whilst serving in Iraq. Mrs Smith contended that her son’s right to life had been breached by the failure of the Government to take steps to prevent his death and that his inquest did not meet the standard of investigation required by Article 2 of the ECHR. Mrs Smith won her case in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. During these cases the contentious issue of whether the Human Rights Act should apply to soldiers deployed abroad who are injured when off base was raised.

On this point the MoD appealed to the Supreme Court who ruled in favour of Mrs Smith’s personal case ensuring a second inquest will take place into the death of her son and, in future, independent investigations will have to be held into deaths which take place in similar circumstances.

However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Human Rights Act does not apply to soldiers abroad unless they are on a UK military base and thereby allowed the Ministry of Defence appeal. Ultimately this issue may now have to be tested in the higher European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Jocelyn Cockburn also represented the families of a number of troops who were killed in service in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the controversial use of inadequately protected Snatch Land Rovers. The Snatch Land Rover is a protected patrol vehicle that was originally procured for use in Northern Ireland and was designed to withstand bricks, hand grenades and bottles. The vehicles have proven to be vulnerable to roadside bombs, however, and the relatives of the 37 victims demanded to hear from the government why they were not replaced as soon as this became clear. Jocelyn Cockburn’s campaign brought the Snatch Land Rover case in front of the Chilcot Inquiry. It was subsequently announced that £100 million would be spent replacing the armoured defence vehicles.

Result

To help promote these cases Byfield secured over 500 pieces of media coverage with news articles in The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun and a front page story on The Times.

Byfield arranged for the client to be interviewed both outside the court room and in the studio securing more than 15 broadcast opportunities including BBC News, Channel 4 News, Sky News, ITV News and GMTV.