Helicopter firm should not get Leicester City crash recordings, court told

At a hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday, Leonardo applied for disclosure of data from the flight’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the government’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

Lawyers for the company argued the data is needed in order for it to defend itself against the family’s claim.

They said the helicopter was not defective, arguing the crash occurred due to “unreasonable acts or omissions” by the pilot.

Tom Bird, for the company, told the court: “Disclosure is necessary to ensure a fair trial of what the claimant’s lawyers have described as ‘the largest fatal accident claim in English history’.

“We say the data is relevant to the material issues in this case including the fatal accident and its causes.”

In written submissions, Philip Shepherd KC, for the family, said the accident had been investigated by the AAIB for five years and during the investigation Leonardo had “full access to all the data which it now demands, and carried out many of the tests which it now says it wants to redo”.

He said the data would not provide any defence for the company, adding: “Leonardo is on a fishing expedition hoping that even after a painstaking five-year investigation, something might turn up.”

In court, he said the company was “playing with people’s lives” by seeking to dispute the conclusions of the AAIB investigation.