Army death families attack MoD

Des James, left, and Reg Keys, have joined forces in their campaign

The families of three Welsh soldiers killed while serving in the military have criticised Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on Wednesday.

The parents claim there are continuing shortfalls in the MoD's handling of army deaths and they want an inquiry.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Lembit Öpik has thrown his support behind the families' campaign.

The government has previously decided against a public inquiry into four deaths at the army's Deepcut base.

Des James, whose daughter 18-year-old-daughter Cheryl died at the barracks in Surrey in 1995, attended the press conference in London.

It has been a culture of secrecy more than anything else which has frustrated the families Lembit Öpik

He was joined by Reg Keys, whose son, Lance Corporal Thomas Keys, 20, was killed by a mob in Iraq in 2003.

The third father who attended the event was Alan Richards, from Cwmavon, Port Talbot.

His son, Wayne, 17, was shot dead during a night exercise after a mix-up between blank and live ammunition during a 30-week training programme at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, in March 2000.

Mr Öpik, chairing the conference said: "I'm hoping that by bringing these families together, Geoff Hoon will recognise that he really does start having to give parents who have lost sons or daughters in the army basic information about how or why their children died.

"It has been a culture of secrecy more than anything else which has frustrated the families and I want to make it clear to Geoff Hoon that that culture of secrecy cannot be allowed to persist.

An MoD spokesman said: "We are aware that every death like that is a tragedy.

"Obviously we regret the loss of life and we understand their desire to know the circumstances surrounding the deaths."