An inquiry into the death of Sergeant Steven Roberts, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, who died of a bullet wound in the chest on the fifth day of the war, said that he would have lived had he been protected by the special body armour.

Sergeant Roberts was the first British soldier to die in action in the 2003 Iraq war, on a stop-and-search operation at Az Zubayr in southern Iraq. He had handed his enhanced body armour (ECBA) to a colleague because the equipment was in short supply.

“Had Sergeant Roberts been wearing ECBA at the time he was shot, he would not have been killed,” the report by the board of inquiry said.

Samantha Roberts, the sergeant’s widow, was given the details of the report yesterday.

She said: “If that delay [in the Secretary of State's office] had not occurred, would Steve be alive today?”

She received an apology from Mr Hoon after she released a tape of her husband complaining about the shortage of equipment before he died. The MoD has admitted liability and agreed to pay compensation.

The report into Sergeant Roberts’s death, published by the MoD, said that the two-month delay in approving the order for the armour, led to an “unachievable timeframe” for supplying and distributing it.

The final batch of ECBA was delivered by the contractors on April 4, 2003, 16 days after the war began. One consignment did not arrive in theatre until December 2003 and another one was never received.

The report said: “In an attempt to provide ECBA to personnel who might be required to deploy to Iraq on operations (if a political solution could not be achieved) an urgent operational requirement (UOR) was directed to the Secretary of State’s office in September 2002.”

Under this war preparation procedure, army chiefs have to seek an exemption from normal restrictions on weapons procurement. On this occasion the equipment capability section of the Army asked for 16 separate items.

The board of inquiry report said: “The Secretary of State’s office agreed to allow 12 out of the 16 UORs requested. The procurement of ECBA was not agreed at this time, as ‘further advice required’ was annotated against the [request].”

The report added: “On receipt of clarification, the Secretary of State’s office agreed to the ECBA UOR on November 13, 2002 . . . the contract . . . was let on December 13, 2002.

“Constrained by the rate at which the contractor could produce ECBA elements [which include high-velociyy ballistic plates], the supply and distribution of ECBA was set against an unachievable timeframe.”

The delays in supplying equipment for the British troops, including desert boots, body armour and filters to protect tank crews from biological and chemical agents, put Mr Hoon under scrutiny during the war and in the inquiries that followed. The Commons Defence Committee and the National Audit Office produced scathing reports on the delays in sending equipment.

Mr Hoon said in September 2003 during Questions in the Commons that British soldiers had not been put at risk.

The MoD confirmed that the decision to delay the order for the ECBA had been taken by Mr Hoon, but in consultation with the chiefs of staff.

Colonel Peter Davies, the Army’s director of personal services, said: “We still mourn the loss of our comrade, Sergeant Steve Roberts. He was a first-class tank commander. We do our utmost to protect our people but the unfortunate reality is that military operations are dangerous, uncertain and complex. Regrettably, soldiering is far from risk-free.”

ORDER DELAY

September 2002: Government publishes dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction

September 2002: Request by Army to the Secretary of State for large stock of enhanced body armour for troops. Request not agreed

November 2002: Request finally agreed by Secretary of State

December 13, 2002: Contract for the body armour agreed

January 2003: Delivery programme begins

January 2003: Government announces deployment of 31,000 troops to the Gulf for war

March 2003: President Bush announces end of diplomatic efforts after failure to get a second resolution from the UN

March 19, 2003: Ground war starts

March 24, 2003: Sergeant Roberts, with no enhanced body armour, is killed by high velocity bullet

April 4, 2003: Final body armour arrives in Kuwait

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