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Guardian 31st July 2001 SAS 'widow' to sue MoD for pension The girlfriend of an SAS corporal killed while rescuing six British soldiers held hostage in Sierra Leone said today that she will sue the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after it refused her a war widow's pension. Anna Homsi, 30, does not qualify for the £18,000-a-year pension because she and Brad Tinnion, 28, were not married. Ms Homsi is now raising their eight-month-old daughter, Georgia, on £53 a week. She plans to sue because she has "no other option left," she told the Mirror. The childhood sweethearts had been living together in Hereford for nearly eight years. Corporal Tinnion was killed in September. Ms Homsi told the Mirror: "I was so proud of Brad and what he did and I understood that one day I might lose him. "All I want to do is be able to bring up our child well. At the moment I just can't afford that." The Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, Paul Keetch, whose Hereford constituency includes the SAS's home base, is supporting Ms Homsi's claim. The current laws governing pension rights for the partners of dead servicemen and women are outdated, he said. "I hope that the MoD will see sense and give Anna and her young daughter Georgia the support they deserve," he said. "Mr Tinnion paid the ultimate price for his country but the MoD is not prepared to look after his partner and his daughter in a way most people would fins acceptable. The fact that Anna will have to fight for what she deserves in court is an insult to her partner's memory." But the MoD said that, although it is sympathetic to Ms Homsi's position and is examining other options to see what more can be done, "as a general rule public sector pensions schemes do not recognise unmarried partners". "The flexibility in the rules of the armed forces pension scheme and the war pension scheme is extremely limited. "We recognise that the extent to which unmarried people should receive the same benefits as those received by married couples is an issue in society at large." A review, covering all three armed services, of the subject is under way, the MoD said. Cpl Tinnion's stepfather, David Collins, said he supported Miss Homsi's right to sue but added that it was important that people should realise that his son had left her financially secure. "I support her if she thinks that's the right thing to do, but I wouldn't want people to think my son had left her a pauper," he said. "The way it's come across, it's as though she's destitute, but that's not the case. I know the army have also helped her out financially." Ms Homsi received a £20,000 one-off death-in-service payment after Cpl Tinnion, who joined the armed forces at the age of 17, was killed. Georgia will receive an annual £2,000 grant until she is 17. In a letter published in today's Mirror, the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, said it was "unfortunate" that Ms Homsi will not receive widow's benefits. |
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