A GRIEVING family have slammed the Government for failing to honour a man who died while working for the Ministry of Defence on its armaments range at Foulness Island.
It is almost eight years since Terence Jupp died but his life was passionately remembered at the opening of an inquest at Southend Crown Court on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Defence scientist (pictured)suffered fatal burns while working on Foulness Island and the inquest has been delayed while the Government has dealt with “matters of national security.”
Mr Jupp died on 20 August 2002.
His wife Pat and family members were at Southend Crown Court on Tuesday and paid tribute to the “life saving” work he performed at the Essex MoD testing centre.
In a statement read out to the court from Mrs Jupp by coroner Dr Peter Dean the jury were told of how the father of two had begun work on Foulness Island, Shoeburyness, on 12 August 2002 in his role as Senior Scientific Officer at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory.
Mr Jupp’s widow continued: "At 1.50pm on Wednesday, 14 August I received a call on my mobile from a man who informed me Terry had been involved in an incident at work where he had suffered burn injuries. The man told me Terry had asked him to pass on a message saying ‘tell my wife I love her very much’.”
By the time Pat reached Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Mr Jupp was unconscious and after his health deteriorated over the next six days she was left with the “worst decision I have ever had to make in my life” as she had to chose to unplug his life-support machine.
In court she also revealed that her son and daughter Kathryn and Matthew, who were 15 and 11 at the time of their father's death, suffered bullying at school relating to the death of their dad.
In closing she said that she was sure Terence would be proud of what their children, now 23 and 19, had become and hoped that the inquest “may at last give us some closure.”
Mr Jupp’s brother and sister, Tim and Alison, spoke in their statement of their anger that the MoD had failed to honour their brother's vital work.
In a joint statement they said: “Our own country has failed to provide any formal recognition of his ultimate sacrifice, despite a direct appeal to the Secretary of State in 2008.
“With all the honourary awards that seem to be made to others these days, including celebrities, this lack of recognition is distressing and makes us question why he did the job even more.”
In front of a packed Court One, on day one of the trial in Southend, Coroner Dr Dean spoke of his intention to hear as much evidence as possible in open court.
He honoured the family's “tremendous determination and dignity” over the past eight years and stated that he hoped lessons could be learned from the inquiry to prevent fatalities in the future.
The case continues.