Law change will risk Army lives, says commander

SOLDIERS will be put at risk on the battlefield if the Ministry of Defence is held liable for deaths during training, a former head of the Army in Afghanistan has warned.

Defence chiefs risk facing corporate manslaughter prosecutions for training fatalities after a committee of MPs called for a long-standing protection to be removed.

But Col Richard Kemp, now retired, warned such a move could lead to training becoming “sterile” and result in more deaths on the battlefield because troops will not be fully prepared.

MPs on the Commons defence committee said it was wrong that the MoD was exempt from corporate manslaughter laws in relation to training exercises. They found that since the start of 2000, 135 personnel have died while on training and exercises.

In 11 cases, the Health and Safety Executive issued a Crown Censure – the highest penalty it can impose on the MoD. The cases included the deaths of three soldiers on an SAS selection exercise in 2013 on the Brecon Beacons.

The MPs said the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 should be amended so the MoD can be prosecuted in such cases where there has been a Crown Censure.

But Col Kemp, who was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan in 2003, said: “There is already a fear among people who are organising training about being punished in some way for making training too realistic.

“If training was not tough, if it had been sterile, many more would have died on the battlefield.”

An MoD spokesman said: “The safety of our personnel is an absolute priority and, while each death is tragic, deaths in training are rare. We acknowledge that more needs to be done, which is why we set up the Defence Safety Authority last year. We will now carefully consider this report.”