Superfit SAS veteran who needs lung transplant after being 'poisoned' by fumes when ISIS torched oil wells sues his CNN employers for £200,000

Daily Mail​

12-06-2025

A superfit SAS veteran who was 'poisoned' by fumes from an ISIS cocktail is now claiming £200,000 compensation.
Adam Dobby, 54, had been working as a security consultant for CNN when he was allegedly repeatedly exposed to toxic chemicals in torched oil and sulphur.
Mr Dobby is suing Cable News International Limited at London 's High Court as he claims one of his lungs was so damaged he requires a transplant.
The former SAS operative, who was once fit enough to run 56-hour ultra marathons in the Libyan desert, says he was not properly protected while working as an independent contractor in the warzone.
But the company has denied liability for his injury, pointing out that Mr Dobby had worked in the same areas as its news crews - and that no risk of respiratory issues was identified at the time or after.
Mr Dobby, of Cheltenham, held his military position between 1993 and 2000, including in the Balkans, before leaving the army and working as a security consultant and field producer for news teams in warzones.
He also turned his hand to war photography and has exhibited his work at galleries near his home in Gloucestershire and in London.
According to documents lodged at the High Court, Mr Dobby was working as an independent contractor in Iraq and Syria in 2015 and 2016 when he was exposed to hazardous fumes.
His job involved providing advice to news crews, acting as a liaison with locals and accompanying them on their expeditions across Iraq and Northern Syria.
At that time, Islamic State had begun a tactic of damaging oil well heads and chemical plants and setting fires to create thick plumes of smoke and fumes to disguise their activities.
'During this period of time, Mr Dobby was required to work in an atmosphere which was constantly poisoned by the smoke and fume contained within these plumes,' says his barrister, Michael Rawlinson KC.
'Not only were the effects of the plume all pervading, they would be exacerbated by the fact that, in order to obtain telegenic shots, the crews would work in as close proximity as they could to the plumes where that was the point of the story being recorded.
'An exacerbating feature of all of his exposures was the regular presence of sandstorms, the effects of which were to both to stir up any toxic dust created hitherto by the smoke from the fires and to render it unpredictable as to which area the freshly created fumes, smoke and soot would continue to contaminate the air he breathed.'
But despite the noxious pollutants in the air, Mr Dobby says he was not provided with adequate PPE or training by CNN, which 'asked him to remain' when he expressed concern about burning sulphur storage facilities.
He said the result was that Mr he had 'regularly and persistently inhaled a cocktail of soot, smoke and fumes,' which included sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals which would have at least contributed to his respiratory problems.
Suing for more than £200,000, he claims he at first noticed an 'insidious onset of shortness of breath' around 2017, which worsened in 2022, before a diagnosis of obliterative bronchiolitis - a lung disease which damages small airways - in 2023.
He says his disease is down to the inhalation of toxic fumes and CNN is responsible because he was not adequately protected while working for them.
Previously 'supremely fit' - to the point he was able in 2007 to complete a 190-mile Libyan Challenge ultra-marathon, which saw him run 56 hours non-stop in desert - he now needs a lung transplant, the barrister says.
In its defence to the action, CNN barrister Jayne Adams KC says: 'At all material times, the duties of Mr Dobby required him to provide security advice for and to assess the risks to the journalist teams on the ground.
'He was required to look after the safety of the team. In so far as there were any risks which were outside his experience and expertise, he was required to liaise with his security lead.
'If there was a particular issue, for example the risk of fume and/or dust exposure, he would have been expected to have raised it and to have procured any equipment that was needed.
'It is denied that during the time that Mr Dobby carried out these services, there was known to be any issue with dust and/or fume.
'Further or in the alternative, it is denied that there was any foreseeable risk of injury arising from any exposure to dust and/or fume.
'Mr Dobby worked in the same areas and under the same conditions as many of the news crews and their security. It is denied that any known risk and/or issue with respiratory difficulties arose either at the time or subsequently.
'When there was a risk of chemical weapons being utilised, suitable PPE was provided. There were also 3M masks in the PPE bags provided and taken with the crews.
'It was not an environment in which these were habitually required.
'It is not admitted that Mr Dobby was regularly or significantly exposed to substances giving rise to the risk of injury to health. He must prove the fact and extent of exposure and the relative potency of the substances to which he alleges he was exposed strictly.'
She also said Mr Dobby had agreed a 'termination of independent contractor's agreement' when he left CNN in which he was paid a sum and agreed to release the company from any claims he had against it.
'In the circumstances, the defendant contends that Mr Dobby has compromised any right he may have to bring a claim and denies that he now has any such entitlement,' she said.
The case has not yet gone before a judge, but will be the subject of a full High Court trial unless the parties agree to a settlement outside of court.