Shoreham air show crash: Petition demands legal aid

(Top row, left to right) Matt Jones, Matthew Grimstone, Jacob Schilt, Maurice Abrahams, Richard Smith. (Bottom row, left to right) Mark Reeves, Tony Brightwell, Mark Tussler, Daniele Polito, Dylan Archer, Graham Mallinson

More than 2,600 people have signed a petition calling for the families of the Shoreham air disaster victims to be given legal aid ahead of an inquest.

Eleven men were killed when a Hawker Hunter jet crashed on the A27 in Sussex on 22 August 2015. Another 13 people, including pilot Andy Hill, were hurt.

A pre-inquest review into the deaths is due to take place in March, ahead of the full inquest in the autumn.

The families were refused legal assistance last November.

The official inquest has been continually delayed because no decision on whether to charge the pilot has yet been taken.

Live: More news from across the South East

Shoreham air crash: Who were the 11 victims?

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said the fact that the families had been told by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) that they would not qualify for funding for legal representation under the Exceptional Cases Fund added further insult to their grief.

"Yet this was just the sort of circumstance that the Exceptional Cases Fund was set up to address as legal aid would not normally cover inquests," he said.

"The lawyers acting for the families were told that there was not a wider public interest in this case, which is patently nonsense."

It means that everyone else, but the families, participating in the inquest will get help paying for their legal representation.

The jet crashed on to the busy A27 and burst into flames

Mr Loughton raised the matter in Parliament earlier this month in an adjournment debate, saying the decision was flawed.

Justice minister Dr Phillip Lee said he could not intervene in what had been an "independent decision" made by the LAA.

"If an applicant disagrees with a funding decision taken by the agency, they have a right to an internal review, and to make further representations," he said.

Claire Miles, who lost a nephew in the tragedy, has set up the petition and said it was "beyond all humanity" that the families were being denied legal aid.

Another signatory, Anne Watson, said her friend had lost her father and was "not in a financial position to engage lawyers" and should be able to "have her voice heard".