*R (on the application of Long) v Secretary of State for Defence

Human rights – Right to life. The claimant issued judicial review proceedings, contending that the United Kingdom had an obligation, under art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to investigate the death of her son, a British soldier murdered by an armed mob when visiting a police station in Iraq in June 2003. The Divisional Court, in dismissing the application held that art 2 of the Convention did not give a member of the armed forces a civil right to be protected by the state against errors, including negligent errors, in the military chain of command in carrying out an order relating to the conduct of operations in theatre where such an error created or increased the risk of loss of life. Accordingly, there was no duty under art 2 of the Convention to hold an investigation.