Representing the families of the 14 people killed when a Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod crashed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
David Standard and Ashlea McConnell managed the media throughout the case's lifetime, with an acute focus on the inquest. Staying with the families throughout the inquest, given the considerable media interest.
On 23 May 2008, assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire Andrew Walker gave a damning narrative conclusion stating that the entire Nimrod fleet had "never been airworthy from the first time it was released to service" and urged that it should be grounded.
He continued: "This cavalier approach to safety must come to an end. There were failures...[in monitoring the aircraft's safety]...that should, if the information had been correctly recorded and acted upon, have led to the discovery of this design flaw within the Nimrod fleet." The MOD would eventually admit failings and accept responsibility.
