Sam Roberts: Who is responsible for husband's death?

Samantha Roberts spent an hour in a meeting with the defence secretary on Monday, but said he still could not tell her who was responsible for her husband's death.

Sergeant Steve Roberts, 33, was shot after handing back his flak jacket because there were not enough to go round.

After the meeting, Mrs Roberts said Mr Hoon "should consider his position".

Responsibility

She said her treatment by the Ministry of Defence as she tried to get the facts about why her husband did not have the life-saving equipment was "disgraceful".

Mr Hoon has invited her back for a third face-to-face meeting when an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sergeant Roberts' death is completed.

Had the problems been as acute as critics have suggested, he might argue, then British forces might have suffered greater losses Paul Adams BBC defence correspondent Q&A: Equipping armed forces

She says the defence secretary should consider stepping down.

"I think he should consider his position very seriously because I feel that someone is responsible... and he has not directly accepted responsibility," she told reporters after the meeting in Whitehall.

"He was very quick to tell us that enhanced combat body armour is not mandatory, which I find staggering.

"Mr Hoon is the secretary of state. He is responsible for the armed forces. If you are a manager of a company, you are responsible for your staff.

"If he is not responsible, he must explain who is responsible."

'Ludicrous' demands

But Labour ex-minister George Foulkes said there was a "vendetta" against Mr Hoon.

"I think it is ludicrous to suggest that the defence secretary should resign because equipment isn't provided for one soldier or indeed a dozen soldiers in the field," he told BBC News 24.

"It's the equivalent of saying Alistair Darling [transport secretary] would have to resign if there was a crash on the M1 because there was some lack of maintenance."

Despite saying he was "extremely sorry" for Sergeant Roberts's death, the minister has resisted calls for his resignation.

In a statement, the MoD said Mr Hoon had reiterated those comments and expressed again his condolences to Mrs Roberts.

Riot death

He said she had an "open invitation" to meet him and promised to keep her fully informed of the investigations and lessons that could be learnt.

"He also said again that he was sorry that Sergeant Roberts did not have a set of enhanced combat body armour," the MoD said.

He told the widow he had asked the MoD to examine whether the equipment could become "standard issue to all personnel".

He also asked the chain of command to "look again" at the way it keeps families informed as investigations proceed".

Sergeant Roberts, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, was shot dead trying to quell a riot on 24 March last year.

Mr Hoon has said he was 'extremely sorry' about the war deaths

In the audio diary to his wife before his death, he called supplies to soldiers "a joke" and the shortages "disgraceful".

Mrs Roberts claimed he had been ordered to hand his armour back so it could be given to infantrymen judged to be more at risk.

Her local MP, Lib Dem Paul Tyler, said before the meeting he wanted Mr Hoon "to take responsibility for his ministry".

"Unless ministers are prepared to take responsibility for hugely important strategic issues of this sort what is the point of have a minister in charge?" he said.

Mrs Roberts is not the only war widow putting pressure on Mr Hoon.

The widow of Corporal Dewi Pritchard, who died in Iraq last year, says he did not have a fully protected armoured car.

Cpl Pritchard's family said the father-of-two was a "sitting duck" in the Nissan Patrol car.

Have you been affected by issues covered in this story? Send us your comments using the form below.

Your comments

If Geoff Hoon is not ultimately in charge of and responsible for supplies to the military, who is? Malcolm Thorning, Corfe Mullen, England

Does the buck stop anywhere these days? If Geoff Hoon is not ultimately in charge of and responsible for supplies to the military, who is? The current administration must have the most perfectly developed fingernails, evidenced by the way they can keep hanging on, even in the most unlikely or defensible situations.
Malcolm Thorning, Corfe Mullen, England

I have served in the Army and Royal Navy and kit shortage is a fact of life. But I bet despite the shortages, a flak jacket would have been found for Geoff Hoon and his entire entourage had he chosen to visit the troops when it was dangerous. The problem, I suspect, as always, is not shortages but bureaucracy.
Christopher Wills, Fareham

No cold weather kit for a winter tour in Bosnia and only 10 rounds of ammunition issued to me for the move into Kosovo (I was one of the lucky ones, some had none!!). It was time to leave the army before I had to pay my own air fares to conflicts.
Chris, Chorley, UK

I don't believe Hoon personally is to blame but I do think that a review into the supply system should be instigated S, Wales

I served for many years in the RAF and have only recently left. Equipment shortage is commonplace in the armed forces and is now not even noticed by most military personnel who accept the shortage as military life and buy their own equipment. That to say it is not a good position to be in. When the armed forces has got so bad that they won't issue you with a new pair of socks until you take your old worn ones back, is it a surprise that something of this nature has occurred? I don't believe Hoon personally is to blame but I do think that a review into the supply system should be instigated.
S, Wales

It strikes me that the British soldier is much better at finding equipment than the MoD. Why not simply accept the reality? Let soldiers buy their own gear and put their wages up to compensate.
Jon White, Cambridge, UK

My wife served with 202(V) Field hospital. In a war against an enemy of stated WMD capacity the collective air filtration for the 200 beds in the hospital was supplied with TRAINING filters. In short, if attacked by gas 200 patients would have died because there was no protection. A missile landed 850m from the camp on March 22nd. Who knew it wouldn't be chemically tipped????
Phil Baxter, Hednesford, Staffordshire

Whilst I fully understand the feelings of families who have lost a loved one during the latest conflict, I do feel that this issue has become too political and has turned into a personal crusade against Geoff Hoon. Although I do not have any affiliation for Mr Hoon, I do agree with his sentiments that we should await for the investigations into the death of Sgt Roberts to be completed, so that all the facts are available. Living in a democracy gives us the right to a fair hearing and the view that you are innocent until proven guilty.
Paul, Manchester, UK

The most basic of equipment was in short supply Kurt Reeves, London, UK

Having served 20 years with the Royal Navy, my penultimate appointment being in the largest training school in Europe, I can report that the most basic of equipment was in short supply. Trainees were sharing steaming boots and overalls, they purchased their own hats and sheets, and were unable to sew rank or branch badges to their suits because of a lack of supply. As I moved to the MoD, major project after major project was descoped before being shelved. In sum, no interest from the PM, no interest from the minister, no interest from the MoD and therefore no money! Hoon, as with each of his predecessors from 1982, is guilty of failing to implement and fund a strategy to ensure the UK armed forces receive at least the very basic of personal kit required to wage war.
Kurt Reeves, London, UK

As an ex-member of the armed forces through the 70's and 80's there is nothing new in this, shortages have been a part of the supply chain in the forces all the way through. In Northern Ireland equipment was borrowed and swapped at regular intervals, people often bought their own boots as the army issue was poor quality. So Mr Hoon who has inherited the system should not be made a scapegoat. Instead the fury should be concentrated on the faceless individuals inside the MOD who take a lifetime to decide anything and by the time they do that decision is out of date.
Brian Stewart-Coxon, Aberdeenshire, UK

What is body armour? I served six years in the forces and at that time there was no such thing even though there were more conflicts taking place. Remember Cyprus, Aden, Kenya Malaysia, Falklands or are these forgotten? The problem with this country is the media and people who have no understanding what happens when troops are engaged in war. In areas where there is a conflict it is the military that is in command and not ministers. It is sad that opposition parties making opportunity statements cloud the water.
John, Wales

I served in the Army for 5 years and in that time I became well accustomed to not having the right kit for the job, quite often resorting to buying my own. However a soldier, indeed any combatant serving with the British armed forces has the right to expect, at the very least, equipment like body armour and that when it has been issued to them that it isn't taken away! Hoon has continuously insulted the families of those who gave their lives in a battle which we are still questioning the validity of by not resigning.
Dave Thomson, UK

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