Leading Aircraftman
Leading aircraftman (LAC) or leading aircraftwoman (LACW) is a junior rank in some air forces. It sits between aircraftman and senior aircraftman, and has a NATO rank code of OR-2. The rank badge is a horizontal two-bladed propeller. The ra ...
Ronald George Maddison (23 January 1933 – 6 May 1953) was a twenty-year-old
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
engineer who was unlawfully killed as the result of exposure to
nerve agent
Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that ...
s while acting as a voluntary test subject at
Porton Down
Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...
, in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. After substantial controversy, his death was the subject of an inquest 51 years after the event.
Sarin test and death
Porton Down had been testing
sarin
Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.[coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...]
but subsequently recovered. This prompted a reduction in the dose used in this series of experiments to 200 mg.
Along with other servicemen, Maddison was offered 15
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s and a three-day leave pass for taking part in the experiments. He had planned to use the money to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Mary Pyle.
On the day he died, Ronald Maddison entered a gas chamber at 10:00 a.m. along with five other test subjects. They were each to have an identical experiment performed on them which was part of a series of experiments to determine the lethal dose of sarin when delivered to bare or
battle dress
A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual wear, casual type of uniform used by military, police, firefighter, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purpo ...
-covered skin.
The method used was to measure the change in active
acetylcholinesterase
Acetylcholinesterase (HGNC symbol ACHE; EC 3.1.1.7; systematic name acetylcholine acetylhydrolase), also known as AChE, AChase or acetylhydrolase, is the primary cholinesterase in the body. It is an enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that a ...
in red blood cells at small dose levels and extrapolate this to work out what the effect of larger doses would be.
Sarin is extremely poisonous because it attacks the nervous system by blocking the activity of cholinesterase enzymes present in it, including acetylcholinesterase. The method was practical because
red blood cell
Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...
membranes contain forms of acetylcholinesterase.
The participants were wearing
respirator
A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of respir ...
s, with woollen hats and oversize overalls but no proper protective clothing.
Two technicians were also present to carry out the experiment.
The respirators were tested by exposing the men to tear gas in the chamber before the experiment started.
Maddison was the fourth to have the drops applied, at 10:17 having twenty 10 mg drops of
sarin
Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.[cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...]
used in uniforms,
serge Serge may refer to:
*Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric
*Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme
*Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name)
*Serge (post), a hitchi ...
and
flannel
Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, b ...
, which had been taped
to the inside of his left forearm.
After twenty minutes, Maddison began to sweat and complain that he did not feel well.
One eye witness reported at the second inquest that he slumped over the table.
The contaminated cloth was removed and he left the chamber, walking (perhaps with help)
about 30 metres to a bench.
An ambulance was called and shortly afterwards Maddison complained of deafness, collapsed and began gasping for breath and the scientists injected him with
atropine
Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically given i ...
after they witnessed an
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
-like attack and
convulsion
A convulsion is a medical condition where the body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in uncontrolled shaking. Because epileptic seizures typically include convulsions, the term ''convulsion'' is sometimes used as a s ...
s. An
ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
took him to the site's local medical facility, where he arrived at 10:47. Attempts were made to resuscitate him using oxygen, further injections of atropine and
anacardone, and finally an injection of
adrenaline
Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...
into his heart just after 11 am.
Although he had died at 11 am, less than 45 minutes after being exposed to the poison,
he was not formally pronounced dead until 1:30pm.
Aftermath
The post mortem was carried out in Salisbury Infirmary.
[
] On 8 and 16 May 1953, an inquest was held
in secret before the Wiltshire
Coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
, Harold Dale, who returned a
verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...
of
misadventure.
His father was permitted to attend the inquest but warned that he would be prosecuted under the
Official Secrets Act
An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security but in unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secrets Act 1911) can include all infor ...
if he informed anyone, including his family, of the circumstances surrounding his son's death.
An internal court of inquiry at Porton Down found that Maddison had died because of "personal idiosyncrasy", either because he was unusually sensitive to the poison or his skin absorbed it faster than in other test subjects.
The
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
delivered Ronald Maddison's body in a steel coffin with the lid bolted down to maintain secrecy.
A large number of samples of body parts including brain and spinal cord tissue, skin, muscle, stomach, lung, and gut were retained without his family's knowledge (and therefore without their permission) and used over several years in other toxicology experiments.
Maddison's father, John Maddison, was paid £40 to cover the
funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
expenses, made up of £20 for black clothes, £16 for
undertaker
A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...
's fees and £4 for catering.
Second inquest
Maddison's death, along with allegations that other British
chemical-weapons test participants between 1939 and 1989 were not
properly informed, and may have been misled about the experiments and their risks, was the subject of a police investigation,
Operation Antler, in 1999–2004.
As a result of the investigation, and campaigning by Ronald Maddison's family, the
Lord Chief Justice
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
,
Lord Woolf
Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf, (born 2 May 1933) is a British life peer and retired barrister and judge. He was Master of the Rolls from 1996 until 2000 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2000 until 2005. The Constitutional R ...
, sitting with Mrs Justice Hallett in the
High Court quashed the original inquest verdict in November 2002.
The new inquest opened on 5 May 2004
and was the longest held in England and Wales up to that time, hearing around 100 witnesses over 50 days.
On 15 November 2004, the inquest jury returned the verdict that Ronald Maddison was unlawfully killed.
The Ministry of Defence applied for a
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
to quash the
unlawful killing
In English law, unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or more unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of ...
verdict, although the government announced that whatever the outcome they would look "favourably" at paying compensation to Maddison's family. In February 2006 an agreement was struck within the framework of the judicial review whereby the MoD accepted the inquest verdict on the grounds that Maddison had died through "gross negligence in the planning and conduct of the experiment".
However, the MoD did not accept that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Maddison had not given his informed consent to take part.
Following this Ronald Maddison's relatives received a total of £100,000 in compensation from the Ministry of Defence.
The Crown Prosecution Service had announced in 2003 that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone responsible for the tests but that they would review this decision following the second inquest into Maddison's death. In June 2006, they confirmed that there would be no prosecutions.
References
Books
* Tucker, Jonathan B. ''War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda'' (1st edition, 2006). Pantheon Books, New York. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maddison, Ronald
1933 births
1953 deaths
Royal Air Force airmen
People from Consett
Chemical warfare
British human subject research
United Kingdom chemical weapons program
Deaths from nerve agent poisoning