The mother of a soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has won the first round of a legal battle for an investigation into the use of the lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers.

Mr Justice Mitting gave Susan Smith permission to bring a judicial review challenge to the decision of Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Minister, not to hold a public inquiry into their past use.

Her 21-year-old son, Private Phillip Hewett of the 1st Battalion Staffordshire Regiment, died in July 2005. He was in a convoy of three Snatch vehicles which were hit by a roadside bomb blast in the Al Amarah region of Iraq. Two other soldiers died in the explosion.

Mrs Smith and other families want to force the Government to rethink its decision not to hold a public inquiry into the use of the vehicles in situations of serious conflict.

The judge refused her permission to challenge the future use of the vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan because, he said, the minister did so on advice from military experts and his decision and reasons were “completely unimpeachable”. But he said there were insufficient reasons given for their use in the past and it was at least arguable that he should have granted a public inquiry.

The judge said that 38 soldiers had been killed in similar circumstances to Private Hewett and the minister had not given adequate reasons why they were not replaced by more heavily armoured vehicles.

Leaving court Mrs Smith said: “I am delighted. I realise they are not going to look at the future use of the Snatch vehicles. But I am glad they will look at the historic past use.

“This is not just for me, several other families who lost sons also want to know why? I accept that this is just the first small step but it is nice to know we are being listened to.”

In separate proceedings she and others are suing the MoD for damages over the deaths of their sons. They allege negligence and breach of their Article 2 “right to life” under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The judge rejected claims by the minister that the families’ article 2 rights were covered by their inquests. He said the coroner had no power to inquire into the procurement of the Snatch vehicles or any other high-level decisions.

The next round of the legal challenge is unlikely before much later in the year or early next year. In the meantime the minister may decide to make a new ruling over the past use of the vehicles and give full reasons for decisions made.

Jocelyn Cockburn, a partner at the London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, who is representing Mrs Smith and several other families who support the action, said: “It has always been our case that there has been a historic failure to provide medium-armoured vehicles to soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“This has meant that troops have been sent out in light vehicles, such as Snatch, in circumstances where they don’t provide adequate protection and lives may have needlessly been put at risk.

“We are very satisfied with yesterday’s decision because it means that the Secretary of State should now address the question of whether there should be a public inquiry into the whole Snatch Land Rover issue.”

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Here’s one way MPs can redeem themselves
• Analysis: introducing the word 'failure'
• BA to cut tenth of jobs after disastrous summer