Inquest shock for widow (From Barry And District News)

Inquest shock for widow

A BARRY widow was shocked when she learned at an inquest that her husband's death could have been avoided if he had been supplied with adequate protection while he was in Iraq.

Former SAS sergeant Julian Davies, 39, was fatally shot in the head on June 24, last year when the convoy in which he was travelling was ambushed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosel.

Julian, who was a convoy commander for private London-based security company Global Risk Solutions at the time, was taken back to the camp and then airlifted to the nearest field hospital.

But the dad-of-one died hours later after receiving a gunshot wound to the head.

Last Friday's inquest heard how Julian had been travelling in a Toyota Land Cruiser soft-skinned vehicle with no doors, despite project manager Alexander St Matthew-Daniel's requests for the company to provide better vehicles, bullet-proof glass in windscreens and ballistic blankets.

Mr St Matthew-Daniel, who was acting as a witness at the inquest, told the court of the "relentless" violence in the city, but described car bombs going off, shootings and the launching of rocket-propelled grenades as "the general atmosphere of Mosel".

But he also said: "I didn't think our vehicles were suitable. They were hand-me-downs.

"We had asked for armoured vehicles but I was told they were not available."

Coroner Mary Elizabeth Hassell said, after recording a narrative verdict, she would be writing a report to the security firm, recommending that they improve the conditions of vehicles to prevent further such fatalities.

Julian had been working on a project called Operation North Star, and was in a convoy of three cars which were protecting the passage of 70 tankers from the north of Iraq to an area 200km south of Mosel.

He had been travelling on a western route around Mosel but had been forced to take a different route when three bombs exploded in his path.

Mr Matthew-Daniel told the court how the day had started off as a normal, but "escalated with such severity".

"This was a well orchestrated and brutal attack," he said.

"As soon as we entered Mosel we were in the middle of an ambush. A bullet came through the windscreen and went into the left side of Commander Davies' head."