SAS deaths inquest hears soldiers ‘could have been saved’

Above (l-r): Trooper Edward Maher, Corporal James Dunsby and Lance Corporal Craig Roberts

Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Trooper Edward Maher died after taking part in a gruelling 16-mile test march in the Brecon Beacons on 13th July 2013. Corporal James Dunsby died in hospital 17 days later.

It was one of the hottest days of the year. All three men died from heat injuries.

‘Alarm bells’

Professor George Havenith, who specialises in the effects of heat stress, highlighted what he claimed were a series of deficiencies in the “generic” risk assessment conducted on the morning of the march.

Speaking at an inquest he said the assessment lacked any reference to specific water requirements, the absence of medics at certain checkpoints, and the need for fast evacuation of heat injury victims.

He told the inquest into the deaths that, had a better risk assessment process been undertaken, the deaths of the three men may have been “avoidable”.

“Alarm bells should have been ringing”, he told the court, when a heat stress reading was taken that morning at a nearby army camp.

He also said the exercise should have been stopped before the third occurrence of heat illness that day.

‘Very high heat load’

Craig Roberts collapsed just over an hour after passing through his final checkpoint. Edward Maher’s recorded movements ceased forty minutes after passing through the same checkpoint (CP5).

Professor Havenith said both men would have taken on a “very high heat load” (the equivalent of “eight old fashioned light bulbs” inside the body) during a steep climb after the checkpoint.

He was in “very little doubt”, he told the inquest, that both men would have survived if they’d been withdrawn at checkpoint 5 and correctly treated for heat illness.

Corporal James Dunsby stopped moving thirty minutes after passing through a different checkpoint. Professor Havenith argued that, on the balance of probabilities, he too would have survived if he had been withdrawn at the checkpoint and received effective treatment.

However, he told the inquest there was a “certain amount of uncertainty” in this latter assessment given the different checkpoint facilities Corporal Dunsby would have encountered, among other factors.

Earlier the inquest heard that criminal prosecutions may yet be brought in this case. A lawyer for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said a criminal investigation was still ongoing and that any decision on “enforcement” would follow the conclusion of the inquest.