Gentle loses her fight for Iraq public inquiry

Rose Gentle's son Gordon was killed while on duty in Iraq

GLASGOW mother Rose Gentle today lost her battle for a public inquiry into the legality of sending British troops to war in Iraq.

Law lords rejected the last ditch attempt by Mrs Gentle, of Pollok, and Beverley Clarke of Stafford, Midlands. Their sons, Fusilier Gordon and Trooper David, both 19, were killed in Iraq.

The case was considered so important that nine law lords headed by Lord Bingham, the former Lord Chief Justice and now the country's senior law lord, were drafted in to hear the week long argument in February.

Normally, only five law lords sit on judicial appeals in the House of Lords.

he law lords had been told during the hearing earlier this year the two mothers brought the case with "reluctance" and were "proud of their sons who died with honour serving their country."

But today, the law lords said that while they sympathised with the mothers, they unanimously rejected the call for an inquiry.

They ruled there was nothing in the "right to life" provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights that gave rise to the need for a public inquiry to be held. More