SOLDIERS from Colchester may have survived if the equipment they were given had been better, the Chilcot report suggests.

Snatch Land Rovers, also known by troops as ‘coffins on wheels’, failed to provide enough soldiers with enough protection from IEDs.

At least 37 UK soldiers died while travelling in the vehicles, including Pte Lee Ellis, 23, and Capt Richard Holmes, 29, from Colchester’s Second Battalion The Parachute Regiment, who were killed in Iraq in March 2006.

Following the release of the report, Pte Ellis’ mother Ronnie, said: “I am angry he was put in that position.

“Nobody took responsibility. Even Chilcot could not find out who was responsible for equipment over there.

“People are saying they should have been in better equipped vehicles, it may have saved their lives.”

The report revealed 180 Snatch Land Rovers were transferred over from Northern Ireland to Iraq when the war began but any additional armour was “limited” because the chassis could not carry the weight.

For years troops were told to “manage” with the vehicles but there were was “no inherent confidence” they were fit for purpose.

Alternative options were stuck being discussed in committees for years until Defence Secretary Des Browne eventually, in June 2006, called for an armoured vehicle review.

Sir John Chilcot’s report revealed nobody was responsible for “identifying and articulating capability gaps” meaning soldiers were left with inadequate protection for years.

He said: “That was a failure of the system.”

Effectively troops were forced to use Snatch Land Rovers because there was nothing better despite their inherent inadequacies.

There was nothing better and nobody was directly responsible for finding something better.

Bereaved relatives are attempting to sue the Government for not providing troops with adequate equipment.

By 2008 Bernard Jenkin, MP for Harwich and North Essex, called for a probe into the continued use of the vehicles during a meeting of the Defence Select Committee.

Capt Holmes had even raised concerns about using the vehicles in that area at that time and the threat of IEDs shortly before he and Pte Ellis were killed.

Pte Ellis’ sister Karla, also speaking to the television cameras after the report was released, said: “I did not think they would say ‘we should not have gone there really, the equipment was inadequate and we are sorry about that’.

“Thanks, ten years later.”

The report stated: “The expectation of an early withdrawal from Iraq inhibited action on an expensive programme that might not be completed before troops left.”