Scotland Chinook crash victim ‘would want answers’, says sister | UK News

The sister of a man who was killed when an RAF Chinook helicopter crashed in 1994 said he would want her to get to the truth of his death.

Major Christopher Dockerty, 33, whose family lived in Cambridgeshire, was one of 29 people killed in the crash on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland on 2 June that year.

His sibling, Nicola Rawcliffe, who lives near Diss in Norfolk, was among a group of campaigners calling for a public inquiry. She is supported by her father, John Dockerty, who lives in Suffolk.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the accident had already been the subject of six inquiries, and sealed records could not be released due to data protection rules.

On the day her brother died, Mrs Rawcliffe had just returned home from a holiday with her husband and was welcomed with a birthday card from her brother.

She said she had not listened to any news that night and went to bed.

“The next thing I knew was stones being thrown up at our bedroom window in the early hours of 3 June because, unbeknown to me, Chris had appointed me his next of kin should my parents be out of the country,” she explained.

“I had the harrowing task of not only receiving the devastating news delivered to me by this army officer at two in the morning, but then I also had to telephone my parents to tell them their eldest son had been killed in a Chinook helicopter crash.

“It was harrowing and incredibly hard.”

She described her brother as a “gregarious chap” with a “very warm personality” and “infectious laugh”.

The helicopter had been on its way from RAF Aldergrove, in Northern Ireland, to a conference in Inverness, in Scotland, and was travelling through thick fog.

It was carrying leading security personnel, all of whom died in the crash.

Initially, the crash was blamed on pilot error, but they were exonerated in 2011.

The families of the victims wanted High Court judges to review information they said was not considered in previous investigations and for the government to release documents on the crash that were sealed for 100 years.

However, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Friday rejected the calls and said he had been advised by the MoD that the records offered “no insights” and he did not believe a new inquiry would “bring any greater certainty” or would be in the public interest.

Mrs Rawcliffe said it felt like the prime minister had “slammed the door in our face” and she wanted him to “stand up and get the truth”.

“We just want somebody to tell us why the helicopter left the ground because we have the evidence to show that it was unairworthy,” she continued.

“It would help because grief is hard enough.

“If [Christopher] was here, he would say, ‘Just keep going, you’ve got to keep going until you find that answer and get that truth’.”

Mr Dockerty, 96, said he was “extremely grateful” to his daughter for her campaigning.

“I think it’s quite disgusting that it has been allowed to fester as long as it has without getting to the bottom of things,” he added.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: “The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died.

“The accident has already been the subject of six inquiries and investigations, including an independent judge-led review.”

They reiterated that the sealed record contained personal records and that the release of the information would breach data protection rules.