GEORGE-L Archives

Archiver > GEORGE > 2004-10 > 1097518386


From: "Colin Spiller" <>
Subject: Obit: L Cpl Darren George, April 2002
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 19:13:06 +0100


From the Yorkshire Post, dated 30 July 2003

SOLDIER DIED IN GUN ACCIDENT

A soldier patrolling the streets of Kabul was shot and killed by a colleague
who suffered a dizzy spell as he handled his machine gun, an inquest heard.

Lance Corporal Darren George, 23, was on duty in the Afghan capital weeks
after the fall of the Taliban when he suffered a fatal head wound from a
bullet ricochet.

The victim, from the Royal Anglian Regiment, who was married with a young
son, died on board a plane as he flew from Afghanistan to Oman for
treatment, the inquest sitting in Chelmsford, Essex heard.

A jury of four women and seven men sitting with coroner Caroline
Beasley-Marshall returned a verdict of accidental death.

Following the hearing, widow Sarah George's solicitor, Paul Harrington, said
his client felt no anger to Private Sean Metcalfe, who fired the fatal shot
in April last year.

Mr Harrington said: "Having heard what happened, she apportioned no blame.

"Her feelings are one of forgiveness (to Mr Metcalfe), he has expressed
contrition and she hopes they can both get on with their lives."

The solicitor said Mrs George, who lived with her husband at Pirbright,
Surrey, but now lived in Basildon, Essex, hoped to bring a compensation
claim against the Ministry of Defence but was unable to do so at the moment
due to a High Court ruling in a case brought by a group of Falklands
veterans.


Sorry for the delay in reporting this

This thread: