Norfolk helicopter crash data to be kept confidential

Voice and data recordings from a helicopter crash which killed four people will remain confidential, the High Court has ruled.

The helicopter crashed in thick fog in a field in Gillingham in March 2014.

During an inquest earlier this year, the coroner demanded disclosure of the helicopter's cockpit voice and data recorder.

But Mr Justice Singh has said there would be no "public interest" in disclosing the information.

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Tory peer, Lord Ballyedmond, was amongst those killed when the helicopter crashed close to the Suffolk border.

Declan Small, 42, of Mayobridge, Co Down, pilot Carl Dickerson, 36, of Thornton, Lancs, and co-pilot Lee Hoyle, 45, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, also died.

Senior Norfolk coroner, Jacqueline Lake, concluded that the deaths were accidental.

But she said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) "at the very least" should provide a full transcript of what was said by those who were about to die.

The AAIB refused to comply and the coroner issued two £100 fines against the body's chief inspector.

'No public interest'

In a test case on Wednesday, the court heard that material gathered by the AAIB during its inquiries was usually kept confidential and protected from disclosure.

The coroner's lawyers argued it was her duty to fully investigate the circumstances in which four people died.

They said the inquest ought to have access to contemporaneous records of what happened.

Mr Justice Singh said there was "no public interest in the coroner going over the same ground as the AAIB".

"The inquests in this case have already been concluded and there is no question of re-opening them," he added.

The judicial review challenge was upheld and the disclosure orders and fines were overturned.

The High Court has also refused police access to interviews carried out with Shoreham air crash pilot Andy Hill by the AAIB.