A CARLISE dad who wants the Ministry of Defence prosecuted over the “preventable” death of his soldier son during a fitness test has taken his battle for justice to Downing Street.
Phillip Hoole, 62, has spent seven years fighting to unearth the truth about the death of his 26-year-old son Josh during the Army fitness exercise in 2016.
The tragedy, which followed what officials accepted was a “catalogue of failures by the Army", bore striking similarities to one in 2013, when three soldiers died from heat illness during a training exercise in the same area in south Wales.
A coroner later concluded that there were “very serious failings”, and a failure to learn from the 2013 fatalities.
Phillip believes there is now enough evidence for a corporate manslaughter charge to be brought against the MoD. But Phillip is now campaigning for the creation of a new regulatory system to make public bodies accountable.
Phillip said this is needed to end the “repeating cycle” of public bodies covering up failures and wrongdoing.
As examples, he cites the NHS infected blood scandal, police conduct during the Hillsborough disaster, and the recent Post Office Horizons debacle, all of which have involved costly public inquiries being held after families battled for justice.
Phillip has started a petition calling for a new regulatory body to promote and enforce transparent and honest governance in all public bodies.
Already signed by almost 600 people, the petition was yesterday handed over to 10 Downing Street staff, with a covering letter for Sir Keir Starmer.
The letter tells the Prime Minister: “There needs to be a new statutory body to prevent this repeating cycle of cover-up and injustice - a body with the funding, the expertise, and the teeth to ensure that high ethical standards and candour are the norm in public bodies and that failures are addressed.”(Image: Contributed photos)
Phillip (pictured on the left above with Josh to the right) said: “One of the reasons I’ve done this is so that other families do not have to go through the same thing. The British public have become sceptical about politics and public institutions.
“There’s a lack of transparency and honesty.
“When things go badly wrong, we sometimes get a public inquiry but that can take decades. There needs to be a clear and legally enforced duty of candour for all public servants.
“We need a new statutory body that is designed to monitor, uphold and enforce transparency and a duty of candour in public bodies such as the Army, the NHS, and government-owned companies like the Post Office.
“It should be properly resourced and have the powers it needs to do its job.”
READ MORE: 'I want justice for Josh' - Carlisle dad's six year battle with MoD
Last month, Phillip spent eight days retracing the eight-mile route that his son was doing on the day he died. It was an emotional experience, said Phillip, explaining that it focused his mind on the need to keep fighting for justice.
He said: “Everybody deserves justice, but the system tried to sweep my son’s death under the carpet and that’s wrong. If I don’t see this through, I don’t think I will be able to get closure; I will have let my son down.
“There is clear evidence to justify bringing charges against the MoD, which covered up the facts around the death of my son. But this is about more than Josh and what happened to him.
“It’s about all the other families that this has happened to.
“For that reason, there needs to be a new independent regulatory body to make sure that public bodies such as the Army can not cover up their mistakes so that people can get to the truth without having to fight so hard.”
A former soldier himself, Phillip from Denton Holme, Carlisle, added: We have a new government, and this is the perfect time for a reset.”
To access Phillip Hoole's Change.org petition, go to this link: JUSTICE FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE
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