Richard Backs Petition For Review Of Service Wills
November 10, 2009 4:52 PM
Richard Burt is urging residents to sign a petition posted on the Prime Minister's website by Jeff Goodridge, calling for an independent inquiry into the lodging, tracking and confirmation of service wills for the armed forces.
Jeff's daughter Gemma Polino, who lives in Birmingham, lost her fiancé Corporal Robert Deering, killed in action by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan last year.
Robert assured Gemma that he had made a service will to provide for her before his tour of duty, but the will cannot be located by the MOD.
Gemma and Robert had been together for five years, were buying their first home and planned to marry and start a family on Robert's return. Now Gemma, who has been declared a war widow, could lose her home due to an old will being acted upon.
Several recent cases have occurred, and on at least one occasion the service will was found six weeks after it went missing.
Richard, who has signed Jeff's petition, said: "I have given my wholehearted support to Jeff's campaign. Over 1000 have already signed Jeff's petition and I hope thousands more from Worcestershire will visit the Prime Minister's website at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Servicewills/ and do the same.
"This is a truly unacceptable situation for Gemma and other war widows to find themselves in.
"Government must order a thorough review of the way service wills are made, lodged and tracked so that the last wishes of every serviceman or woman killed in action is honoured.
"Service wills are often written at a time of great stress and can easily be misplaced. It would be a tragedy for a bereaved partner to lose out because the will is not properly lodged and an older will is then legally enacted.
"The MOD should put in place a system to ensure that all men and women on active service have recorded and lodged their last wishes in a safe place."
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