Review into letter row soldier's death
Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan on October 5th
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Tuesday, 10, Nov 2009 04:47
By Richard James.
Gordon Brown has ordered a full review into the death of a soldier in Afghanistan after his mother confronted him in a heated phone conversation over the misspelling of her son's name.
Grenadier Guardsman Jamie Janes, 20, from Brighton, was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan on October 5th.
His death has dominated the news agenda this week after his mother Jacqui accused the prime minister of "insulting" him after misspelling his name and sending a letter of condolence riddled with spelling mistakes.
During a recorded phone conversation between Mrs Janes and the PM, obtained by the Sun newspaper, the former claimed her son had died due to a lack of equipment out in Afghanistan.
At a press conference at No 10 this morning, Mr Brown revealed he had ordered a review into the guardsman's death after hearing Mrs Janes' concerns.
In an emotional attack during the phone conversation on Sunday night, Mrs Janes said: "Mr Brown, listen to me... I know every injury that my child sustained that day. I know that my son could have survived but my son bled to death.
"How would you like it if one of your children, God forbid, went to a war doing something that he thought, where he was helping protect his Queen and country and because of lack, lack of helicopters, lack of equipment your child bled to death and then you had the coroner have to tell you his every injury?
"Do you understand Mr Brown? Lack of equipment."
In response, the prime minister claimed he understood her position and suggested he felt as strongly as she did on the matter.
"I'm sorry, Miss Janes, we have tried to give the troops the equipment they need and I have tried my best," he added.
At the press conference in Downing Street this morning, Mr Brown said he felt the grief and at times anger felt by those who had lost loved ones in Afghanistan.
The military campaign in the country has now entered into its eighth year, with 232 British service personnel killed while fighting the Taliban insurgency.
The recent death of five soldiers shot dead by an Afghan policeman at a military checkpoint as caused serious questioning over the effectiveness of the ongoing offensive, with certain parts of the media and even senior MPs calling for a complete withdrawal.
Mr Brown said at Downing Street he had apologised to Mrs Janes for any mistakes that may have been made in his letter, but said it was "the last thing on my mind to cause any offence".
He said every time he had to read out the names of soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan or write letters to their loved ones he had to ask the question 'are we doing the right thing?', to which his answer remains "yes".
Mr Brown said the whole country felt a sense of loss whenever there was news of a casualty in Afghanistan and said that would once again been witnessed with the repatriation of six soldiers at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, later today.
Six dead soldiers brought home to families