Soldier on military service

Regina (Smith) v Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire (Equality and Human Rights Commission Intervening) [2009] EWCA Civ 44; TLR 20 May

Private Jason George Smith joined the Territorial Army in October 1992. In June 2003 he was mobilised for service in Iraq. He arrived in Basra in June 2003. By August 2003 temperatures reached over 50°C in the shade. He died on 13 August 2003 of hyperthermia or heat stroke in a medical facility on a British base. Was his death caused by a defective system operated by the state which failed to afford adequate protection to human life by ensuring, so far as reasonably practicable, that he was an appropriate person, with proper training and equipment, to expose to the extreme heat of Iraq? Was there a real and immediate risk of his dying of heat stroke and, if so, were all reasonable steps taken to prevent it? Is a British soldier on military service in Iraq subject to the jurisdiction of the UK within the meaning of art 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and as such a beneficiary of Convention rights while on operations in Iraq or was he only subject to the jurisdiction for those purposes when he was on a British military base or in a British hospital? The Secretary of State argued that the jurisdiction under art 1 of the Convention was essentially geographical and that, while the UK base was geographically within the jurisdiction of the UK for those purposes, other parts of Iraq were not. For the claimant, it was argued that jurisdiction could be personal and that a soldier in Iraq was within the personal jurisdiction of the UK. Should the inquest into Private Smith’s death conform to the requirements of art 2 with the Convention, a broader investigation than a traditional inquest?