Death patrol 'lacked equipment'

Senior Aircraftman Thompson was killed in the blast

A serviceman was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan after a patrol failed to spot a makeshift mine because it had no metal detector, an inquest has heard.

Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson, 51, of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, died in April 2008.

SAC Thompson, of Nottingham, was killed along with SAC Graham Livingstone, 23, of Glasgow, by an explosion at a river crossing near Kandahar Airfield.

They had been patrolling Daman District when their Land Rover was hit.

SAC Thompson became the oldest serviceman to die in the conflict when the device detonated on 13 April 2008.

The inquest heard that the patrol was meant to have two metal detectors but instead only had one because of equipment shortages.

Flt Lt Andrew Costin told the court: "We put in for a replacement which was never received. One was borrowed from other patrols."

Two others injured

The patrol had split up and the crossing had been checked earlier in the day by the section of the patrol without the device.

A further check was not made when the patrol regrouped and the return crossing was made.

Two other personnel were injured in the attack.

Sgt Christopher Pacey, who was in a WMIK Land Rover, told the inquest: "Being aware that we didn't have the appropriate equipment to carry out (the drills), the only thing you could do was use other equipment at our disposal - binoculars and thermal imaging equipment to check for disrupted ground.

"We checked to the best of our ability with the equipment we had and found nothing at that time."

SAC Thompson joined the RAF in 1973 and was based at RAF Cottesmore in Leicestershire, but left four years later to pursue a career in business.

He became managing director of Sherwood Ducting Ltd in Nottingham.

In 2005 he became a reservist, serving as a gunner and later a mortar man in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

He then joined No 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron.

The inquest continues.