A coroner has described the delays in investigating the fatal Leicester City helicopter crash as a “national disgrace”.
Club chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and four other people were killed in a crash outside the King Power Stadium on October 27, 2018.
Last September, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) published its final report on the accident.
An inquest is not expected to begin until early 2025.
PA MediaAt a pre-inquest review on Thursday, Philip Shepherd, who represents Mr Vichai’s family, stated that delays in completing the AAIB’s investigation had made relatives’ suffering “immeasurably worse”.”My clients had before them the greatest tragedy of their lives and it is not over by a long shot,” he stated.
“Families of those who died will not be able to find closure until the investigation is completed and the inquest is held.
“Those I represent have had to live with the anguish of that terrible night knowing finality has not been brought to them, by this inquest, year after year.”
The crash also claimed the lives of the helicopter’s pilots and partners, Eric Swaffer and Izabela Roza Lechowicz, as well as two members of Mr Vichai’s staff, Nusara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare.
Mr Shepherd told the hearing at City Hall in Leicester: “The latent factor here has been the fact that the final AAIB report into this extremely serious incident, which took the lives of five good people, took one month less than five years.
“The delay was a national disgrace.”
He told the hearing that the crash was of “worldwide interest” and that the investigation had been “dragged out”.
He said the public and victims’ families deserved to know why.
Mr Shepherd informed coroner Prof Catherine Mason that the victims’ families did not blame the inquest process for the delay.
David Manknell, representing the AAIB, told the hearing: “The AAIB, like everyone else, regrets the time it has taken to complete the reports.”
However, he stated that, while speed was appropriate in the investigation, “it was more important that proper processes were followed and the correct result was obtained.”
The final report concluded that a tail rotor bearing seized, causing the helicopter to crash.
The AAIB determined that the crash was “inevitable” due to a series of mechanical failures, and that Mr Swaffer, who was at the controls, could have done “very little” to avoid it.
Representatives from several “interested parties” attended the hearing, including the helicopter’s manufacturer, Italian firm Leonardo, and the football club.
They made recommendations to the coroner regarding what evidence she should consider and the scope of her upcoming investigation.
They were told that the inquest would likely last two to three weeks and would be conducted in front of a jury.
Prof Mason extended her condolences to those who died.
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