Widow’s fury as SAS pair cleared on deaths

THE widow of a Hobart-raised soldier who died during an SAS selection exercise yesterday blasted the “blatant ignorance” of defence top brass as his two commanding officers were acquitted of negligence.

Bryher Dunsby’s husband Corporal James Dunsby, 31, died of heat-related illness two weeks after a 30km march through the Brecon Beacons in Wales in temperatures up to 31.2C.

Two other reservists — Lance Corporal Edward Maher, 31, and Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, 24 — also died of heat exhaustion during the training exercise in July 2013.

Their two commanding officers were this week acquitted following a week-long court martial at Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire.

The men, whose names cannot be reported for legal reasons, had been accused of making “basic” errors in the organisation and risk assessment of the march, part of the SAS selection process.

Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett ruled they had no case to answer because the Br it ish Ministry of Defence had failed to give them proper training in dealing with heat illness.

An angry Mrs Dunsby said: “This court martial has revealed the shocking reality that there is still no official guidance for those conducting endurance training marches in the British Army on heat illness, even five years on.

“This is beyond unacceptable, and shows blatant ignorance to a vital need, where apparently three deaths are not enough to incite change.

“‘I now call upon the head of our British Army, the newly appointed Chief of Staff Mark Carleton-Smith … to prioritise and put extra resources behind completing and implementing the new guidelines and direct- ives for endurance and heat illness.”

The ruling was also met with fury by Cpl Dunsby’s father David, who told ITV News: “I’d like to see others in the dock. Those men at the top in the dock. They’re just sitting behind their little mahogany desks now in London hoping it’s all going to go away.”

The court was told Cpl Maher had just passed the fourth of five checkpoints when he collapsed. Cpl Roberts was discovered facedown a mile from the finish, while Cpl Dunsby was found by two walkers having passed his penultimate checkpoint.

They activated his mandown alarm and he was flown to hospital, where he died of multiple organ failure two weeks later

Lewis Cherry, representing the two commanding officers, said outside court: “The defendants have always maintained that they did their duty diligently and conscientiously and they have now been vindicated”. marches