Soldier's widow demands apology from 'lying' Hoon

The widow of the first British soldier killed in the Iraq war this year yesterday demanded a public apology from Geoff Hoon after an official report found that her husband was ordered to give up the body armour which would have saved his life.

The report found that Sergeant Steven Roberts had been issued with life-saving body armour but was ordered to give it up because his regiment was short of equipment.

Sgt Roberts, 33, was killed after he was shot during a riot in the town of Zubayr, south-west of Basra, on 24 March.

His wife, Samantha, accused the Defence Secretary of lying by claiming her husband's death was an isolated incident. She condemned Mr Hoon for failing to supply British troops with adequate equipment. Mrs Roberts said: "What happened was a disgrace. Steve was prepared to give his life for his country. He knew the risks, but to be asked to give up a flak jacket when 200,000 have gone missing since 1999 shows they do not care."

The special investigation branch of the military police reconstructed the events leading to the death of Sgt Roberts, a tank commander with 16 years' service in the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. Pathologists concluded that the armour would have saved his life.

The report said that had Sgt Roberts been wearing his enhanced combat body armour, with its protective plates in position, "the 7.62mm tracer round that struck him ... and ultimately killed him would have been defeated."

The report came days after government spending watchdogs criticised the Ministry of Defence for failures in logistics which left thousands of troops without proper protection from chemical, biological and conventional weapons. They criticised the MoD for forcing troops to share limited stocks of body armour, which contain ceramic plates which can stop bullets fired from 10 metres.

The National Audit Office said "insufficient numbers" of armoured vests were distributed to troops in Iraq and it criticised Mr Hoon for allowing 200,000 vests sent to Kosovo to "disappear" since 1999.

Sgt Roberts's family met Mr Hoon in October to discuss the case. They want him to explain why a senior officer wrote to Mrs Roberts suggesting that her husband may have been hit by a British bullet. The letter said that another commander had fired at an Iraqi militant. The Iraqi was killed but "tragically Steve was also hit".

The family has also questioned whether Sgt Roberts's weapon jammed during the riot.

Mrs Roberts said: "It's very hard to put into words how this makes you feel; incredibly angry and I'm disgusted at the way this has been handled. He was everything to us. He was a soldier but he was a human being, a husband and a son, but that seems to have been totally forgotten."

She added that the families of soldiers killed in the war were "incredibly angry" at this latest report and demanded to be told what had happened.

Paul Tyler, the Liberal Democrat MP who has championed the Roberts family's case, warned that other soldiers killed or wounded in the war could have been saved if they had been issued with the correct body armour. He said: "The family has every reason to be extremely frustrated. It has taken a very long time to investigate this and we have had to drag this information out of the Ministry of Defence.

"Sgt Roberts was a very brave man, doing his duty. His widow and family are naturally devastated by this information, dragged out of the Ministry of Defence after eight long months of waiting and worrying. Sgt Roberts's widow wants to be absolutely sure that such awful mistakes can never happen again. She wants to be certain that no other family will be similarly, and unnecessarily, bereaved."

An Army spokeswoman said that Mrs Roberts was free to have another meeting with Mr Hoon at any time, but insisted that the MoD had kept her informed of developments.

She said Mrs Roberts had been kept up to date and that a MoD police investigation into the incident was ongoing.