Suicidal soldier was left alone before he died, inquest hears
ASUICIDAL special forces soldier was left alone with just a list of phone numbers for support on the weekend he killed himself, an inquest has heard.
Corporal Alexander Tostevin, 28, of the Special Boat Service, was left in his flat with the phone numbers of his sergeant-major, a welfare officer and the Samaritans.
Dorset Coroner’s Court heard a plan had been agreed for the welfare officer to make twice-daily checks by text message over the weekend.
Cpl Tostevin, from Guernsey, was found dead in his flat in Poole, Dorset, on March 18 2018.
The hearing has heard he had been traumatised after surviving being shot while serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Marines in 2010.
In the year before his death, he had been under pressure from an assault court case, spiralling debts, a break-up of a relationship, increased drinking and cocaine use, and had planned to kill himself.
This culminated in Cpl Tostevin going AWOL in September 2017 when he used a military credit card to buy drugs and hire a prostitute.
The inquest heard evidence from the then regimental sergeant-major of the Special Boat Service who had been part of a group drawing up a safety plan for Cpl Tostevin.
The officer, known as Soldier C, said a case conference was held five days before Cpl Tostevin died where a community psychiatric nurse said the soldier had deteriorated and had been expressing intentions of suicide.
The officer said discussions took place about whether Cpl Tostevin would be admitted to a psychiatric hospital, a further meeting with a Royal Navy psychiatrist was arranged, and a safety plan was agreed.
At the same time his welfare officer, known as Welfare Officer 1, was replaced due to forthcoming leave and concerns about the closeness of their relationship.
Kirsten Heaven, counsel representing the family, asked: “When you made that safety plan you didn’t know what things might trigger Alex’s suicide risk to go from low to high?
“You assumed the community psychiatric nurse knew what the triggers were for Alex’s risk. Does part of the plan you are taking responsibility for leave Alex on his own over the weekend with twice-daily text messages?” Soldier C replied: “The plan we had was twice-daily text messages, he had Soldier N’s direct number, he had a direct welfare number and he also had his peers who he was in regular contact with, he also had the number for Samaritans.
“With previous reports of how Alex had conducted himself when he had these thoughts that was a safe wraparound for him.”
Ms Heaven asked: “Despite that, the plan was that Alex was going to be left on his own for periods of time?”
Soldier C replied: “That would happen any time, unless he was sectioned.”
The inquest heard that a plan drawn up by a Royal Navy psychiatrist had a civilian friend of Cpl Tostevin stay with him at all times, but he left four days before the soldier’s death.
Soldier C told the court: “We knew the history and we knew he would always seek help throughout this time period, and that was part of the reason why the plan was at is was.”
After going AWOL, Cpl Tostevin was moved to the welfare/recovery unit to receive support from welfare and health services, and disciplinary action was put on hold.
“I was concerned it might be PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and I wanted to remove any major pressures on him while he got the treatment he needed and the support he needed,” Soldier C said.
“I wanted to get to the root of the problem before going down the discipline route.”
A further case conference was held in November 2017 when the community psychiatric nurse (CPN) informed the meeting Cpl Tostevin was suffering adjustment disorder and did not have a mental health condition. The decision was taken to proceed with the disciplinary process.
“We had the advice from the CPN that it was adjustment disorder and there was nothing to link what he did with the credit card misuse,” he said.
“There were symptoms but it did not reach the threshold of being PTSD which is why it was adjustment disorder.”
The inquest was adjourned.