NIMROD FLEET 'NEVER BEEN AIRWORTHY'

Assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker was giving his verdict in the inquest into the deaths of 14 servicemen who died when their Nimrod aircraft exploded in mid-air in 2006.

He said the crew and passengers on that day could not have known that this aircraft was "not airworthy". And he said that, in his opinion, the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" nearly 40 years ago.

He said: "The crew and passengers were not to know that this aircraft, like every other in the Nimrod fleet, was not airworthy. The aircraft was never airworthy from the first release to service in 1969."

In addition, the plane that crashed had been in service since 1969 and was simply "beyond its sell-by date", the inquest heard. The crash, which happened as the crew prepared for landing following a secret mission in Afghanistan, was the biggest single loss of life suffered by the military since the Falklands War.

Twelve of the men who died were from 120 Squadron based at RAF Kinloss in Forres. Two other servicemen who were travelling attached to the squadron also died.

The inquest, sitting at Oxford's Old Assizes, has heard two weeks of evidence about repeated fuel leaks from the Nimrod fuel tanks.

The aircraft that exploded did so shortly after air-to-air refuelling had been completed and the inquest was told of the dangers of fuel leaking from the tanks as they were filled, on to hot pipes, and then igniting.

On Thursday Mr Walker said he was considering a number of safety recommendations, including the grounding of the entire Nimrod fleet. But the Ministry of Defence is under no obligation to carry out any of his recommendations.

His full verdict is expected shortly.