Mon 15 Nov 2004


Jury Out in Nerve Gas Test Inquest

By Simon Evans, PA

A jury began considering its verdict today at the end of a six-month inquest into the death of a young British serviceman who underwent secret nerve gas tests 51 years ago.

Airman Ronald Maddison, from Consett, County Durham, died after having drops of Sarin dabbed on his arm at Porton Down chemical warfare testing facility in Wiltshire.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf quashed the original verdict of death by misadventure last year and said a new inquest was needed in the interests of justice.

That move followed an investigation by Wiltshire Police into claims by Mr Maddison’s family and others that servicemen had been duped into undergoing the tests at the military base on Salisbury Plain.

Mr Maddison, a Swindon-based RAF engineer, was one of many human volunteers involved in tests from 1939 to 1989.

The new inquest, which began in May, heard allegations from lawyers representing Mr Maddison’s family that the first hearing was rushed through in secret on the instructions of the government of the day.

The new inquest, sitting in Trowbridge, was told that Mr Maddison, who was just 20 when he died, was led to believe he was being tested for drugs to cure the common cold.

He died at Porton Down on May 6, 1953, in the medical examination room.

Today, on the 64th day of the hearing, Wiltshire coroner David Masters sent the jury out to deliberate.

Last week Mr Masters directed the jury of six men and four women to decide either upon an open verdict, one of misadventure, or one of unlawful killing.

Lawyers have said that if a verdict of unlawful killing is returned, then the door would be open for many servicemen to sue the Ministry of Defence.

The new inquest heard evidence from an ex-army ambulance driver called to help Mr Maddison.

Alfred Thornhill told the jury: “He was convulsing and foam was coming out of his mouth.

“Then he was taken into the medical centre where there were scientists and medical people.

“They just threw him on to the bed and gave him a big injection.

“It was a terrible atmosphere – they were all panicking. They couldn’t handle what they were looking at.”