How sad and disgusting is this?

LONDON (AFP) - A British coroner demanded that former British defence secretary Geoff Hoon give evidence at an inquest into the death of a soldier in Iraq forced to surrender his body armour because of shortages.

Sergeant Steven Roberts was killed by friendly fire while manning a vehicle checkpoint near Az Zubayr, southern Iraq, in March 2003.

He was ordered to give back his enhanced body armour three days before his death and an official investigation which reported in August found he would have survived had he been wearing it.

Hoon was defence secretary at the time of his death and is currently Europe minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government.

Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker wants to find out why it took him eight weeks to authorise the ordering of extra body armour in 2002.

The lawyer representing the Ministry of Defence said this delay was “irrelevant” to the investigation into Roberts’ death.

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