Army urged to end retirement dagger award after murders
A CORONER has called on the military to stop handing out ceremonial daggers to retiring servicemen after a former soldier stabbed a couple to death with one.
Collin Reeves, who was presented with the weapon when he left the Army in 2017, used it to murder Stephen and Jennifer Chapple, his neighbours, four years later after a row over parking.
He stabbed Mrs Chapple, 33, and Mr Chapple, 36, in their home while their children slept upstairs, his trial heard. He was jailed for a minimum of 38 years.
Samantha Marsh, the Somerset senior coroner, has written to Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to voice her concerns about the knife Reeves, 35, who served with the Royal Engineers for 15 years, used in the double murder.
She wrote: “The murder weapon was a ceremonial dagger that had been presented to [him] following his retirement from the British Army … as a commemorative token of his service. The dagger was not a blunt replica, it was a fully functional weapon capable of causing significant harm, injury and sadly in the Chapples’ case, death.
“Please reconsider the appropriateness of providing anyone leaving the British Army… with what is (to all intents and purposes) a deadly weapon.”
Ms Marsh said Reeves took offence at how Mrs Chapple parked her car near their homes in Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, Somerset, and police were called on a number of occasions. The Independent Office for Police Conduct ruled police acted appropriately and there had been no indication physical violence was even “a remotely foreseeable possibility”.
However, Ms Marsh concluded that she should write a prevention of future deaths report to the Government.
She wrote: “In my opinion there is a risk future deaths could occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.”
She explained it was suggested Reeves was suffering from poor mental health because of his service. She wrote: “This is not an uncommon feature of those serving in and/or leaving the Army, and adds further weight to my concerns. In my opinion, urgent action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you have the power to take such action.”
Mr Wallace and the MOD are obliged to respond to Ms Marsh’s report – also sent to the chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police – by April 25.