Soldier who died in suspected suicide ‘was seen crying hours before he was found hanged’
THE girlfriend of a British soldier found dead in a Co Down army barracks believed he had a “physical fight” with a driving instructor before he died.
Lance Corporal James Ross (30), from Leeds, was found hanged in a suspected suicide on December 8, 2012, at Abercorn Barracks at Ballykinler.
Sharon Mitchell told an inquest into his death she had planned to move in with the “loving, caring and funny” squaddie she met on the Plenty of Fish dating site and described spending a “wonderful” week with him while he was on a driving course.
“He told me (that day) that he had fought with the instructor and his test wasn’t going to take place,” she said. “I believed he meant a physical fight.”
Earlier this week William Riley, of Lloyds School of Motoring, told how LCpl Ross had cut a “frustrated” figure, displayed an attitude problem and had been involved in a verbal altercation with another instructor two days before his death.
But yesterday Ms Mitchell said the only thing LCpl Ross was “distressed” about was a reprimand for being late to the Christmas party he helped organise, although his last words to her at 7.30pm led her to believe everything was fine.
“He texted to say ‘I’m back’ and sent a kiss,” she recalled.
She said her Yorkshire boyfriend, who she met for the first time in Belfast’s Cafe Vaudeville on August 25, never showed any signs of mental health problems
Ms Mitchell became concerned on the Saturday afternoon after failed attempts to contact him, which she said was “out of character”.
She called the guardhouse at 4pm, which prompted a search for the missing soldier, who was found dead inside his private room just over two hours later.
The coroner also heard how Ms Mitchell “would have loved to have gone” to the Christmas party but was told by LCpl Ross that it was too late to add her to the guest list — something she later discovered to be a lie.
LCpl Ross’ colleague Rifleman Andrew Fischer told the inquest that LCpl Ross had been upset and was crying in the early hours of the morning. The witness said he surmised LCpl Ross was emotional after an argument with his girlfriend on the phone, but Ms Mitchell said the pair never spoke that night.
She learned after his death that there had been a “resumption” of his relationship with former fiancee Gemma, who subsequently contacted her on Facebook.
Rfn Fischer also described how LCpl Ross visited his room up to 30 times during the party to bring “beers and shots” before entering his room at around 4.30am. He did not recall a struggle or if LCpl Ross used a key and was forced to concede his memory was unreliable because he was “out of my head” on drink.
Ms Mitchell said her boyfriend, who regularly talked about his two tours of Afghanistan in a “bravado” kind of way, often showed her videos of people being “shot in the backside” and wanted to return to the conflict zone.
However, she did describe one incident involving a young girl in Afghanistan which seemed to bother LCpl Ross. “She was handed to him and he couldn’t save her — that’s all I know,” she said.
PSNI Constable McConn, who arrived at the scene just before 7pm, shortly after paramedics alerted police, told the inquest that no suicide note was found inside the “dishevelled” room where LCpl Ross’ body was discovered behind a damaged door.
He ruled out signs of “a fight or struggle” and could not explain what caused the damage to a hinge on the inside, damage around the exterior frame and damage to the lock hatch, which had been unscrewed and forced out. The coroner described the damage as another “mystery” in the circumstances of the death.
Former corporal Andrew McAtee, who was president of the mess committee that organised the Christmas ball, said “embarrassment” over mental health issues deterred squaddies from seeking help and claimed owning up to struggles was synonymous with requesting a career change and avoided by “ambitious” soldiers like LCpl Ross.
The medically retired veteran recalled discovering a “box of problems that Ross had kept to himself ” in the days following his death. “The Army has failed a lot of people and I think they failed James as well,” he said.
The former serviceman, who has himself been diagnosed with PTSD, acknowledged that procedures are improving but said in LCpl Ross’ case it was too late.
Mr McAtee blamed the Army’s “progressive” policy of allowing soldiers to have single dorms as the reason why the “sign that something was amiss” was ignored.
However, MoD barrister Philip Aldworth forced Mr McAtee to concede that help was available for anyone who wanted it and that soldiers who complained about feeling isolated shunned Army initiatives providing transport into nearby cities.
The inquest continues.