AN inquest was opening today into a former Army officer who is thought to have suffered from Gulf War illness.
The family of Major Ian Hill fought a long battle to get the condition recognised.
And they hope the hearing in Warrington could provide a landmark judgement which may have an impact on hundreds of other cases.
The hearing was opening today - 32 months after Maj Hill lost his battle with a terminal illness.
He served in the Gulf in 1991.
Inquests into the deaths of British soldiers who became ill after the first Gulf War have often ended in open verdicts.
But Ian's widow, 56-year-old Carole Avison, of Newsome, is anxious that the verdict will stipulate he died from a Gulf War illness.
The hearing is set to last at least two days.
