On trial over SAS deaths

Tassie soldier’s family await verdict

TWO elite British SAS soldiers will claim they are scapegoats as they face trial by court martial over the deaths of three recruits, including an Australian Army Digger, during a gruelling test to join the elite fighting force.

Former Australian Army soldier Corporal James Dunsby, who grew up in Hobart, and British SAS hopefuls Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Trooper Edward Maher, died in 2013 during a 26km hike in full kit over a Welsh mountain range on the year’s hottest day.

The exercise was supposed to be called off but there were poor communications. Another 10 soldiers also suffered heat-related illness.

The trio pleaded for water and a rest but were pushed on. All died from overheating and multiple organ failure.

The two British recruits were pronounced dead on the Welsh Brecon Beacons range, while the 31-year-old Aussie died at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital more than two weeks later.

A coronial inquest in 2015 heard evidence of a “catalogue of very serious mistakes” in the preparation and running of the SAS Reserves force selection march, where there had been a “chaotic” response to the men’s plight. An internal military review questioned the whole existence of the SAS Reserves force, while Britain’s health and safety agency censured the Ministry of Defence.

The Service Prosecuting Authority, which operates independently but within the Ministry of Defence, initially ruled out prosecution for the tragedy before lawyers for the families intervened.

Two officers, known only as 1A and 1B, both deny a single charge each of “negligently performing a duty” by failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of the candidates in the exercise.

The pair, a training officer captain and his warrant officer chief instructor, will face trial at the Court Martial Centre in Bulford, Wiltshire.

Both men have claimed, through their lawyers, they are to be made scapegoats to protect more senior officers.

James Dunsby was born in England but migrated to Tasmania when he was seven and grew up in Hobart, studying at St Virgil’s College and the University of Tasmania. The dual national later joined the Australian Army. He moved to the UK as a military analyst.

In 2008, he was part of a three-man crew of an armoured vehicle with Prince Harry in Afghanistan.

His family still live in Australia, while his wife is in the UK.