Death of Belgrano Case Judge

Thursday, July 24th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

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The judge who presided over a controversial court case about the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in the 1982 Falklands War in Britain has died in Britain, aged 75. It was one of the most politically controversial trials of the Thatcher premiership.

The judge, Sir Anthony McCowan, was in charge of the case in which a senior civil servant of the Ministry of Defence, Clive Ponting, was charged under the Official Secrets Act with leaking an internal Ministry of Defence document about the sinking of the Argentine warship. He had handed the document to a Labour Member of Parliament, Mr Tam Dalyell, who conducted a campaign against the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, for ordering the sinking of the Belgrano. The document indicated that the Argentine cruiser had been sailing away from the Falkland exclusion zone when it was torpedoed by a British submarine, HMS Conqueror.

Echoes in Blair's Iraq Crisis

The case has echoes in the present crisis facing Tony Blair's government over allegations that he misled Parliament into supporting the invasion of Iraq, highlighted by the suicide of a Ministry of Defence weapons expert, Doctor David Kelly, who leaked information to BBC correspondents about intelligence documents focusing on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction Iraq. In the Belgrano case in 1985, Ponting argued that by leaking the Belgrano document he prevented Parliament from being misled. He claimed that his action was in the interests of the State, a defence permitted under the Official Secrets Act. Judge McCowan ruled against him, declaring that the interests of the State must mean the interests of the Government of the day, to which the Civil Service was bound by a relationship of trust.

Jury rejected Judge's ruling

But the jury rejected his ruling and acquitted Ponting, a victory which was widely welcomed as a victory for commonsense and a vindication of the jury system. The document leaked by Ponting fuelled the controversy over the justification for sinking the Belgrano with heavy loss of life. However British Task Force Commanders and the Government justified its sinking by arguing that the heavily armed cruiser was a dangerous threat to the Task Force and the campaign to liberate the Falklands Islands. The Ponting case did not lasting damage to Sir Anthony McCowan's career and his reputation as an extremely competent judge, becoming Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales. Ill health forced his retirement in 1997.

Harold Briley (MP) London

Categories: Falkland Islands.

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