Anthony Oxley: Police backed charges over Army officer's death - coroner

Colour Sgt Oxley was struck by a car driven by a US serviceman in June 2016

A US serviceman who hit an Army officer in a fatal road crash on an RAF base was not charged because "the American authorities took over the investigation", a coroner has said.

Colour Sgt Anthony Oxley, 40, died at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in June 2016.

His widow has campaigned since then for details of his death to be made public.

Sally Oxley said she "cried" after learning last weekend from a coroner's report that police had recommended criminal charges against the driver.

The BBC has contacted the US Air Force for comment.

Colour Sgt Oxley, from Ryhill, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was riding a motorbike when he was involved in the collision with a Toyota Corolla driven by the US serviceman. He died later in hospital.

A 2018 inquest in the UK recorded a narrative verdict, citing the officer's death had been caused by multiple head injuries.

Sally Oxley has been campaigning to make the details of her husband's death public for more than seven years

Mrs Oxley said she had been pushing for a new inquest after being approached in a car park outside Nicosia District Court at an earlier hearing by someone who worked for the Sovereign Base Areas (SBA) Police - the civilian police force for the British-controlled Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

An inquest was held in Nicosia in September 2023, and Mrs Oxley and over the weekend her legal team received the official translation of the coroner's conclusion.

The report, seen by PA Media, named the US serviceman involved in the crash for the first time and said criminal charges against him had been recommended by the SBA Police before the US Air Force took over the investigation.

The coroner said the Constable of the British Bases in Akrotiri, Michalis Vasiliou, concluded in his investigation report in 2017 there was "sufficient evidence" to prosecute the American for "causing death by reckless/dangerous acts".

The report said witness statements described the driver of the car "[taking] a sharp right turn without turning on his direction indicator to show his intention to turn".

The coroner wrote: "The reason why no criminal charges were brought, according to the witness (Mr Vasiliou), is because the person in question was a soldier in the American Air Force and the American authorities had taken over the investigation.

"In his own report it appeared that he disagrees with a very large amount of the findings of the American report."

Colour Sgt Oxley had served in Iraq and Afghanistan

The coroner concluded: "There is testimony before me which demonstrates that possibly the actions, acts or omissions of third parties may have led to the death of the deceased."

Mrs Oxley, who lives in Barnsley, said: "I've not really slept all weekend. These are the things that have been kept from us," she said.

"It's hard to process but I've just got to get on with it."

Mrs Oxley's legal team has now written to the UK Attorney General to request a new inquest based on the coroner's findings.

She also hoped the attorney general for the Republic of Cyprus would direct a fresh criminal investigation into the crash.

Mrs Oxley said: "I'm really hopeful, I don't think I can turn back on it now. They're going to have to do something about it."