colleague: ‘See, not everybody from Glasgow is like Rab C Nesbit’, and on another occasion there was a comment along the lines of ‘Jocks are all the same, drink too much and fight with their families’.”
The Fleetings fear their son may have been the victim of an initiation or prank which went wrong.
Although they have been told that such things do not happen, they have received information from other members of the military about servicemen “choking each other out” and even of one having an umbrella inserted into his anus.
“We reported that to the police and they confirmed it had happened on the base, but said it had no bearing on Robert’s case,” said Susan.“There has been a catalogue of errors from the start.
“Aſter the deaths at Deepcut there was a review and a new set of procedures put in place to deal with any deaths on a military base. Not one of those new procedures was followed in Robert’s case.”
The Fleetings are angry that if a convicted terrorist, paedophile or murderer dies while in prison or state hospital their families have the automatic right to an inquest in front of a jury to ensure complete openness.
“This rule applies to everyone apart from the MoD. The question has to be asked: why?,” said Susan.
“We set up an online e-petition which we successfully managed to get raised in the House of Commons by MP Michael McCann in January but the election came along and held everything up. McCann is no longer our MP so we are hoping our new one will take up the fight.
“Although our Scotish regiments have been cut drastically, this problem will arise in the future if we stay as a united nation. This is something the public should be aware of if their kids are joining up.
“There are less and less bases in Scotland and if any of our troops die in England then families face the same batles as we do. Everything comes under English law so any lawyer in Scotland is unable to help or assist in any cases and families have to travel south of the border to get any legal assistance which adds to an already expensive process.
“The Scotish Parliament has put measures in place if our children die abroad but this does not include England as we are seen as one nation, even though the laws in England and Scotland differ greatly.
“This is a mater which should be looked into in greater depth. We will always have Scotish men and women serving in the forces and, unfortunately, non-combat deaths will always occur. Scotish families face the added pressure of different laws and the need to seek help from English lawyers in an English court system.
“Our petition calls for a change in the rules so that
“Te Scottish Parliament has put measures in place if our children die abroad but this does not include England as we are seen as one nation even though the laws in England and Scotland
differ greatly”. :Susan Fleeting SAC Robert Fleeting
any non-combat deaths on a government run base are fully investigated. There needs to be full openness and transparency to allay any fears of conspiracies.”
The Fleetings acknowledge that, whatever happens, they will never be able to alter the past. But they do believe they can prevent other families going through some of the anguish they have had to endure.
“I know it might sound strange, but in some way I would prefer to think my son did take his own life, rather than think that somebody else did this to him and hurt him,” said Susan.
“But the story we have been given just doesn’t add up and we’re not going to give up. We can’t grieve properly for Robert until we find out the truth.”
* More details on the Fleeting’s campaign can be found at htp://
justiceforrobert.weebly.com
June 2015 43
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