Tony Blair has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the Iraq war

Peter Brierley's son Shaun died in a traffic accident in Kuwait on 30 March 2003, just days after the start of the war.

But Mr Brierley remains an angry and frustrated man.

"My son went out expecting weapons of mass destruction, I believed they would find weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair, as far as I'm concerned did lie and sent my son to his death unnecessarily."

Latest victim

He is one of a growing number of parents and relatives who have come out in vocal opposition to the war and Tony Blair's handling of it.

They want a public inquiry and are prepared to go as far as contemplating private prosecutions of Mr Blair for "aggression" or misfeasance in public office.

But Mr Blair has already ruled out holding a public inquiry, saying in an interview on Channel 4 News: "We've had inquiry after inquiry, we do not need to go back over this again and again."

The man is seeming to be covering up for himself and his government and it has got to be exposed Tony Hamilton-Jewell on Tony Blair Iraq families' anger

After featuring only lightly in the opening weeks of the campaign, Iraq has been firmly on the front pages all week with the publication of the Iraq legal advice and the death of Guardsman Anthony Wakefield, the 87th British service person to die in the Iraq war.

Mr Blair has been forced yet again to defend himself over the war, saying he had to make a decision and that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

Tony Hamilton-Jewell describes himself as "not a political man", and accompanied by his white Scotty dog makes an unlikely figure striding up to the gates of Downing Street.

But the death of his Red Cap brother Simon after a mob of Iraqis stormed a police station at Majar al-Kabir has motivated him to take action.

He has a warning for Mr Blair.

Oil

"We shall pursue you in and out of office.

"The man is seeming to be covering up for himself and his government and it has got to be exposed.

"We want to make sure government don't do this again. My brother said he had a job to do - the legal implications never came into it.

"[People's] children will be going into the Army and we have to secure their safety and make sure we don't have a government in power that would go to war on somebody's whim.

"We did go to war for three letters but it was OIL not WMD."

The families have pledged to pursue Mr Blair 'in and out of office'

Mr Blair has resolutely stood against an independent inquiry into the war, saying that the four limited inquiries into different aspects of the conflict will suffice.

So Mr Hamilton-Jewell, from Eastbourne, urges voters to spoil their ballots as a protest against the war and the lack of an inquiry.

Mr Brierley and Mr Hamilton-Jewell are among the relatives who have formed Military Families Against the War.

They are aided by Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, as well as the Stop the War Coalition.

Mr Shiner said legal action to get an independent public inquiry - along the lines of the Bloody Sunday inquiry - would be straightforward under the Human Rights Act and estimated the group's chances of success as 50/50.

Crosses

He said if Mr Blair ignored the letter demanding the inquiry, an application for a judicial review would be lodged in 14 days.

When the group of relatives and activists arrived at Downing Street, a gaggle of bemused tourists looked on in the sunshine.

The police on duty would not admit Mr Hamilton-Jewell's dog, nor were they keen on the wooden cross that one relative is wielding, bearing the legend: "No more crosses for Blair."

But the group insisted there was no question that they had timed their legal action to cause embarrassment for Mr Blair.

Mr Shiner said: "It is just unfortunate from Tony Blair's point of view that it is two days before the election."