Sandhurst cadet ‘killed herself after inquiry into drunken party’
A FEMALE officer cadet has been found dead in an apparent suicide at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, amid reports she was being investigated for a “drunken night out”.
The unnamed woman, 21, was found dead in her room on Wednesday Feb 7. It is not known if she was an overseas cadet or from the UK.
It is understood that the woman was involved in an investigation over a drunken party at Sandhurst last weekend, after which she apparently stayed overnight in one of the other colleges on the site on the Berkshire-surrey border.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) said there was no suggestion of wrongdoing, except that she had not returned to her accommodation.
The MOD confirmed an investigation into her death had been launched by Thames Valley Police. It is thought to be the first suicide by a female cadet at the base. The trainee officer was in the senior term of the year-long course, and was due to be commissioned in April. Her friends at the academy have been described as heartbroken.
An MOD spokesman said: “We can confirm that an incident has occurred at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst resulting in the death of an officer cadet. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.
“Thames Valley Police are treating the incident as an unexplained nonsuspicious death, any further queries should be directed to Thames Valley Police.”
A police spokesman said: “At around 3pm on Wednesday, officers were called to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. On attending the scene they found that a woman in her twenties had sadly died. Her next of kin have been informed.
“The death is being treated as unexplained, but non-suspicious. A file is being prepared for the coroner.”
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is the British Army’s training establishment for all officers, including reserve forces. The 44-week course for the regular Army is based on infantry tactics and procedures with the idea of developing leadership and management skills in officer cadets. Training is conducted mostly in the UK, but some exercises take place overseas.
Both the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex graduated at Sandhurst, and training has been held on the site for more than 200 years. The academy’s motto is “Serve to Lead”.
Many foreign countries have educated their military elite at the academy. Four Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst: King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, the Emir of Qatar, and Sultan Qaboos of Oman.
Whilst very rare, suicides have occurred at Sandhurst before. In 2003, Officer Cadet Martin Pybus, 26, killed himself in his room, just 24 hours before the Sovereign’s Parade that would have marked the end of his officer training.