The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Families call for MoD to be liable to prosecution
Armed forces: Ruling over SAS selection deaths
The Ministry of Defence should be stripped of its immunity from prosecution after being blamed for the deaths of three reservists on a special forces selection march, families have said.
Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, 24, and Lance Corporal Edward Maher, 31, were pronounced dead on the Welsh mountain range after suffering heatstroke on July 13 2013.
Corporal James Dunsby, 31, died at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital from multiple organ failure more than two weeks later.
The soldiers were part of a group of 37 reservists and 41 regular troops taking part in the 16-mile test march in the Brecon Beacons, with a limit of eight hours and 48 minutes.
They carried backpacks weighing up to 27kg as well as dummy rifles on the arduous exercise, which took place on one of the hottest days of the year.
Two servicemen, known only as 1A and 1B, were acquitted of negligently performing a duty by failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of the candidates.
Judge Advocate-General Jeff Blackett found that 1A, a serving captain, and 1B, a former warrant officer, had no case to answer and said the deaths were caused by failures by Joint Forces Command, part of the Ministry of Defence.
“The deaths occurred because of the systemic failures within Joint Forces Command,” he told families of the reservists.
“Of course, the system is made up of people but there have been successive people in A-Block and within the chain of command who have failed to address their minds to the real risks involved in exercising in extreme temperatures, and who have failed to ensure that those delivering the training or invigilating the test were properly trained in all aspects.”
Outside the court martial, Bryher Dunsby – widow of Cpl Dunsby – called on General Mark Carleton-Smith, head of the Army, to prioritise new guidelines relating to heat illness and endurance exercises.
“The MoD are still protected from prosecution for corporate manslaughter by Crown immunity. There is an obvious need for this in live combat, but I believe not in training in Wales,” Mrs Dunsby said.
“Without ultimate accountability or punishment from the law, there is no incentive to do the right thing.”
The Army said that since 2013, heat illness prevention guidelines have been updated three times.