Soldier was found desperate for water

Inquest into killer training march hears Scot discovered unconscious

A SCOTTISH army reservist has told how he was found unconscious by hillwalkers after a training march in which three others died.

The man, who has not been named, was making his third attempt at the five-stage Brecon Beacons special forces test march. He was discovered on its final leg after descending from the 2,906ft Pen y Fan.

He gave evidence to the inquest into the deaths of Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, L/Cpl Edward Maher and Cpl James Dunsby which has heard the men collapsed on the Brecon Beacons in South Wales on one of the hottest days of 2013.

The Scot was one of four reservists taken to hospital during the test march near the highest peak in South Wales.

He recalled how the civilians, a man and woman, gave him chocolate and fetched him supplies of water.

Explaining how he came to be found unconscious, the man, named only as 1X to protect his identity, told the inquest in Solihull, West Midlands: “I felt like I was just going to collapse there and then. So I about-turned and I just tried to make for shelter.”

The soldier then lost consciousness and was found by walkers moving west across the Beacons, who activated his emergency alarm to summon help.

The soldier added: “I told them I was out of water and (the man) ran down (to a stream) and filled up a two-litre bottle of water.”

Before the march, the soldier said, candidates were given a presentation on the effects of heat illness on “others and yourself”.

The reservist was airlifted to hospital shortly after 6pm, having set off at around 7.40am.

Prior to his arrival at Pen y Fan, the soldier reached a ridge and expected to be able to cool down.

“There wasn’t a trace of wind at all that day and I didn’t manage to

‘‘ I think I just pushed myself too hard to be honest. I just wanted to get to the end

cool down as I’d expect,” the soldier told the coroner. “This was my third attempt and I was pretty keen to just get through it.”

Asked by the coroner for his view as to why he had become overwhelmed by the heat, the soldier answered: “I think I just pushed myself too hard to be honest.

“I just wanted to get to the end and rejig all my stuff for the next day and crack on.”

While giving evidence from a screened-off witness box, constructed to protect military witnesses’ identity, the soldier was referred to by the cipher 1X.

Earlier, the inquest heard claims that an Army officer told a grieving family it would have been “too much paperwork” to cancel the special forces test march.

The commanding officer is alleged to have made the remark to relatives of L/Cpl Craig Roberts shortly after they had viewed his body in a mortuary.

In a family statement read to the hearing by her lawyer, L/Cpl Rober ts’s mother Margaret questioned why the 24-year-old was “sent up there in that heat” on July 13.

The family of L/Cpl Roberts, who was working as a teaching assistant, were informed of his death at 11.30pm on the day of the exercise.

In their statement, family members said they later visited a hospital, where they asked a commanding officer whether the timing of the march could have been changed.

“He replied, ‘There would be too much paperwork’,” the family statement added. “We were so angry with this answer. ”

The inquest continues.