Mother fights on over son's friendly fire killing

The words of Beverley Clarke, the mother of Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, who is still embroiled in a quest for answers 12 years after her son was killed by friendly fire in Iraq.

David, aged 19, of Littleworth, Stafford died alongside Corporal Stephen John Allbutt, 35, from Stoke-on-Trent when their Challenger II tank came under fire from fellow British troops in Basra on March 25, 2003.

His body was never recovered.

In the years since his heartbroken mother Beverley has launched a battle against the MoD to find out the precise circumstances behind David's death.

She was one of a number of families of deceased soldiers that brought civil actions in the high court in an effort to prove the MoD is not subject to blanket immunity for every friendly fire incident.

But behind her brave face lies a woman tortured by the loss of her child. For Beverley the last dozen years have seen her battle health problems and addiction as she searches for closure.

"Every single day I think about David," said Beverley, aged 51.

"Because of what has happened with the MoD I've had the double pressure of trying to grieve for my son and continue to fight for justice.

"It's affected me physically and mentally."

Six years ago Beverley suffered a heart attack, which doctors said was the result of stress. To this day she has stents in her heart as a result. She recalls that in one of her darkest hours she woke up in the middle of the night and decided to kill herself.

"I went out to his headstone at the crematorium and took a bottle of brandy and bottles of pills with me," she said. That was it, I was going to end it there and then. Everything had just got too much for me and I thought it was time to go.

"I thought of my younger children, of David's five siblings. They were the only thing that kept me going on that night." After David's death Beverley became depressed and started drinking heavily. As her life came spinning off the rails she made a series of bad decisions, including a marriage that she hoped would take her mind off things.

She ended the relationship after just four weeks.

Unable to come to terms with what had happened, by her own admission she became incapable of looking after her family.

"I nearly lost my younger children," she recalls.

"After David died I hit the bottle really hard. I used to wake up in the morning and the first thing I would do was reach for a glass of brandy or a glass of wine and get drunk.

"Because I couldn't sleep I was on sleeping tablets. I was living a nightmare. I would be walking down the street and I'd think about David and it would set me off again.

"People used to say how well I was dealing with it, but they didn't see what was happening to me on the inside."

His mother Beverley has continued to fight for justice, but hanging on to happier memories of her beloved son has been an important part of her daily routine. Even though she now lives miles away from her former home in Stafford, she still tasks friends in the area with visiting his grave at times when she can't be there.

Not long after David's death she packed a box full of his personal belongings.

"It was the start of what I call 'David's Box'," she said. "It's got his clothes in there, photographs, letters we sent each other and newspaper clippings. Over the years I've kept adding a few extra bits. I'll put any new newspaper cuttings in there, sometimes a picture.

"Everyone knows that on the anniversary of his death I need to be left alone. I just sit down with a bottle of wine and go through the box and reminisce.

"It's one of the ways I like to remember him."

David was a former Weston Road High School student who had been planning to marry his childhood sweetheart before he was killed.

Beverley said that he wanted to be a soldier from a very young age.

He was serving with the Queen's Royal Lancers regiment in Basra when his tank was struck in a friendly fire incident while out on manoeuvres. "I can remember him when he was at school saying he wanted to be a tank driver," she recalled. "His tank was his baby. He always gave 100 per cent to the Army and he loved it. He got to live his dream but it killed him in the end."

She added: "People have said he was a larger than life character, and that's how he's remembered."

He fulfilled his ambition of joining the Army at the age of 16 and having proved himself to be a natural driver was at the helm of a 68-ton tank within a year.

To help her through the dark hours Beverley said she is forever indebted to her friends and family.

Her best pal, Jane Ainsworth, has been 'my rock' she says, a 'true friend' who has always been there for her in times of greatest need.

Hope also appeared on the horizon in the form of a chat over Facebook with her first ever boyfriend from 30 years ago.

"I met up with Phil and I realised I could get part of my life back," said Beverley.

"He has been amazing. I badly needed someone as supportive as him around me."

The pair now live together in Bournemouth. But thoughts of her son are never too far away, and Beverley said she will never forget the day she found out about her his death.

"They told me what had happened and I ran up the street.

"Of course I had to tell people. Then you try and deal with it. That night I went to the pub. When I got home I sat on the stairs and stared at the front door.

"Part of me was thinking, 'is this real?' I kept expecting him to walk in."

Beverley said that initially she was told by the MoD that her son had been killed by an Iraqi soldier. But the following morning she found out he had been killed by friendly fire by reading a newspaper billboard.

He was driving a tank when it was fired on by another Challenger 2 tank while on manoeuvres. Beverley's battle with the MoD was set to go to trial, but the case is now in jeopardy after she lost her legal aid after she took low-paid work in a convenience store.

"I was devastated when I lost legal aid," she said. "But David was a fighter. He was someone who would never give up, and I won't give up either."

Beverley has launched a crowd-funding bid in an effort to cover potential liability costs.

To contribute visit www.crowd justice.co.uk/case/protect-our-heroes