Ex-officer's Hoon fury (From Gazette & Herald)

Ex-officer's Hoon fury

A RETIRED North Yorkshire army officer has called for the resignation of Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon over the Government's failure to provide vital equipment for soldiers in Iraq.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Craven, 67, of Thornton-le-Dale, said Mr Hoon should also face criminal charges for neglecting to ensure British troops were properly equipped.

Lt Col Craven's criticism came after medical shortages forced British Army doctors to amputate the leg of Sgt Albert Thomson, who was said to have been shot accidentally by a colleague.

Surgeons lacked a vascular repair kit, which would have enabled them to have clamped and repaired Sgt Thomson's wounded leg.

Last year, Sgt Steven Roberts was shot in Iraq after being told to give up the £167 protective body vest that would have saved his life.

The 33-year-old father of three, from Shipley, Bradford, had kept an audio diary in which he referred to British Army supplies as "a joke".

His widow, Samantha, who is to meet Geoff Hoon to question him in person over the death of her husband, said that she was still waiting for an apology.

Lt Col Craven told the Evening Press he had spoken out in a letter to a national newspaper because such reports made him extremely angry.

A fourth generation Army officer, Lt Col Craven served with the Royal Artillery for 33 years.

He said: "I have never been sent anywhere where I wasn't prepared to go.

"For us to go to a major conflict and send troops to face death without equipment - it's just the hypocrisy of the Government that angers me.

"As far as I am concerned, Geoff Hoon is the boss and I believe somebody ought to take a civil action against him."

Lt Col Craven's letter read: "If a civilian organisation were to send an employee to carry out a task without first adequately training and equipping that employee and ... that employee suffered injury or death as a direct result of that employer's negligence, this Government would be the first to demand that the directors face criminal charges.

"... it follows that Geoff Hoon ... should face similar criminal charges and, if found guilty, should face a possible jail sentence. Then he would have to resign."

Updated: 10:34 Monday, January 19, 2004