Two soldiers collapsed from heat minutes before Cpl died
Inquest told of fatal fitness march
TWO soldiers collapsed from the heat during a training exercise in the hour before a Scots infantryman died in soaring temperatures, an inquest has heard.
Lance Corporal George Knight is said to have blacked out during the annual fitness test (AFT) at Brecon, Wales, and another unnamed soldier collapsed around 30 minutes later.
Half an hour on from that, Corporal Joshua Hoole, of Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, collapsed and died from a ‘heat illness’.
An expert told the inquest into the Scot’s death yesterday that a key temperature gauge – used to determine if the AFT should go ahead – gave incorrectly low readings because it was in the shade of a building.
Corporal Hoole, of 1 Rifles, was only 400 yards from finishing the eightmile cross-country course, carrying 55lb of equipment, on the morning of July 19, 2016, when he collapsed.
The 26-year-old, who had earlier complained of cramps, slumped to the ground at 8.52am. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
In total, 18 out of 41 soldiers dropped out, collapsed or were withdrawn by the course directing staff.
The inquest at Birmingham Coroner’s Court yesterday was told about a Ministry of Defence policy document, JSP 539, drafted after the Iraq war to reduce heat injury and deaths.
The guidance was intended for medics and commanders.
Colonel Christopher Wright, a military doctor, told the hearing that heat illness could produce ‘a spectrum’ of different symptoms ranging from mild to severe.
At the time, the guidance for any commander who identified heat injuries or illness was to ‘carry out a dynamic risk assessment and consider other control measures, including stopping the activity’. Senior coroner Louise Hunt asked Colonel Wright for his opinion on the collapse of Lance Corporal Knight. He replied: ‘I had come to the conclusion that it should have been treated as a suspected heat injury.’
Referring to the soldier’s symptoms, which included confusion, appearing disorientated and fainting, he said: ‘There are other causes that could cause these symptoms but given those and the JSP guidance, I felt that should have been described as a suspected heat injury.’
Asked what should happen if a potential heat injury has been identified, the medic said ‘the exercise has to stop’. He added: ‘The soldiers should be divested of equipment and clothing, placed in the shade, and the primary cooling method is tepid cooling, where water is poured over the patient.
‘That decision is for whoever is the medical lead.’
Corporal Hoole’s death came three years after three Army reservists suffered fatal heat illness during an SAS selection march in the Brecon Beacons.
The coroner was told that a so-called wet bulb globe test (WBGT) was used to measure heat exposure on the day that Corporal Hoole died.
Heat stress expert Professor George Havenith, of Loughborough University, told the inquest that the WBGT meter produced an ‘erroneous’ low result, as it was in the shade of the Infantry Battle School’s gym building.
He added: ‘I was convinced that any point taken before 10am was definitely an incorrect measurement.’ Asked on a balance of probabilities whether the exercise should have gone ahead, he said it should not.
In his estimation, the temperature was ‘inevitably going to breach the limit’.
Asked if Corporal Hoole would be alive if the exercise had never been run or been stopped at 8.28am, he replied ‘yes’.
The inquest continues.
‘Complained of cramps’ ‘The exercise has to stop’