Widow sues over Iraq ambush death

A widow whose security consultant husband died during an ambush in Iraq has begun a High Court claim for about £300,000 compensation over his death.

Julian Davies, 39, was fatally wounded when he travelled on a three-vehicle convoy in Mosul, northern Iraq in 2004.

Lawyers acting for his widow Joanne, of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, told the hearing in London, Global Strategies Group failed in its "duty of care".

Global Strategies Group deny all liability for Mr Davies's death.

Nicholas Braslavsky QC told Mr Justice Burnett that Mr Davies should have been supplied with an armoured car, or a vehicle with bullet proof glass.

If he had been, the bullet which killed him, fired from an AK47 rifle, would not have done so, he told the court.

He said that the two Global Strategies companies - one in Hong Kong and one in the UK - had failed to heed the concerns of senior staff about the safety of employees in Iraq.

"Julian did what Julian wanted to do"

They also did not have a proper contingency plan for emergency situations such as the one Mr Davies found himself in, the court was told.

On the day he was killed on 24 June, 2004, Mr Davies's armed convoy was forced to change routes after a car bomb exploded and the vehicle later came under attack from heavily armed rebel forces.

Mr Davies, a former Royal Marine who was in the Territorial Army's SAS division and living in Halifax, Yorkshire, with his family when he was killed, was shot in the head and died after being airlifted to hospital from a US Army base.

Global Strategies Group had been contracted by the US Army to help with post-war reconstruction in Iraq.

Its legal team, headed by Robert Jay QC, said that Mr Davies was only employed by the Hong Kong arm of Global Strategies Group, and not the UK-based division.

Mr Braslavsky said if that was the case - and he disagrees with Mr Jay - then it might make "enforcement" of any award Mrs Davies receives more difficult.

Giving evidence, Mrs Davies, a former soldier herself, said that she and her husband had discussed having a second baby in the weeks before he was killed. The couple already had a son, Matthew, who is now 11.

She admitted being anxious about her husband working in Iraq and had persuaded him to return home on compassionate leave weeks before he died so she could express her concerns.

But Mrs Davies told the court that asking her husband, who was earning $500 a day, to give up his job would have been a "futile discussion" and that he loved the military life.

"Julian did what Julian wanted to do," she said, explaining that he decided to join the TA's SAS division just three months after they were married.

"I did not like him going to dangerous areas. I was anxious as any wife would be."

Later she said that he was considering other jobs in Iraq, positions in Colombia or working more closely with the SAS.

Bereavement

After Mr Davies's death, a Cardiff inquest returned a verdict of death by gunshot.

Mr Justice Burnett is being asked to decide if either, or both, the Global Strategies companies was liable for Mr Davies' death, and, if that is the case, the level of damages his widow is entitled to.

Mrs Davies is claiming for her bereavement, the loss of her husband's earnings, as well as the help he offered her around the house.

No damages figure was given in court, but Mrs Davies is suing for more than £300,000.

The case is expected to last until Thursday.

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