War widow Samantha Roberts last night gave Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon "one last chance" to tell her the truth about how her husband died.

Speaking after an hour long meeting with Mr Hoon, Mrs Roberts said that ten months after her husband died, the Defence Secretary had still failed to accept personal responsibility for his death or to identify who was to blame.

Her treatment by the Ministry of Defence as she fought to get the facts about why he did not have the equipment which could have saved his life was "disgraceful," she said.

Sergeant Steven Roberts, 33, was shot dead in Zubayr, near Basra, last March after being ordered to give up his enhanced combat body armour because there was not enough to go round.

An MoD report later said he would have survived the shooting if he had been wearing tough ceramic plates in his flak jacket.

Mrs Roberts, 32, from Shipley, near Bradford, West Yorkshire, said she believed Mr Hoon should "consider his position", but was ready to give him "one last chance" to show he was determined to ensure the tragedy of her husband's death was not repeated.

The Defence Secretary has invited her back for a third fmeeting when an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sgt Roberts' death is completed.

She said: "Nothing that we do can bring Steve back, but we should be allowed to be told the truth about his death and also be assured this isn't going to happen again.

"We knew that a wrong had been done and we knew we were right in saying there were issues with equipment.

"Time and time again we are hearing from soldiers, brave men who are prepared to put their lives on the line, and they are not getting any support from the Government."

Mrs Roberts, who last week released an audio diary in which her husband spoke of his concerns that vital equipment was not reaching front line troops in Iraq, said the furore surrounding his death made it more difficult for the family to deal with it.

"It brings it all back again. We want closure," she said.

She added: "I think it is disgraceful that we have got to go this far."

Mrs Roberts, who was accompanied to yesterday's meeting by her husband's mother, Marion Chapman, his brother, Tristan Tancock, and Liberal Democrat MP Paul Tyler, previously met Mr Hoon in October, before details about her husband's flak jacket emerged.

She said Mr Hoon had shown "more humility" yesterday, but failed to give her the answers she wanted.

He refused to accept he had misled both the family and MPs by initially insisting there were no significant problems with the supply of equipment to Iraq, she said.

Mrs Chapman said she felt Mr Hoon had "evaded a lot of questions".

Mr Hoon later welcomed yesterday's meeting, during which he promised to keep Mrs Roberts fully informed of the investigations into her husband's death.

In a statement, the MoD said: "At their meeting this afternoon, Mr Hoon expressed again his condolences to Mrs Roberts, saying how extremely sorry he was that Sgt Roberts had lost his life during operations in Iraq.

"He also said again that he was sorry that Sgt Roberts did not have a set of enhanced combat body armour."