SAS selection deaths: soldier serving with SAS at the time tells ITV News families will never get the truth

The families of three Army reservists who died on an SAS march will "never get the full picture" of what happened because of the "culture of cover-ups" at the unit, a former soldier has told ITV News.

A coroner ruled today that neglect had contributed to the deaths of Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, Lance Corporal Edward Maher and Corporal James Dunsby, who collapsed after an exercise on the Brecon Beacons in 2013.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the ex-soldier, who was serving with the Special Forces at the time of the reservists' deaths, claimed there is a "blase" and "arrogant" attitude within the regiment.

"Everything in the regular military is done by the book, but when it comes to the SF (Special Forces) group it is sometimes almost a blase attitude, an arrogant attitude - sometimes it is almost done on the back of a fag packet," he said.

"There was a culture of cover-ups where if there was something that had been missed, the regiment will hide behind a veil of secrecy.

"If it is something that is going to damage the regiment, something that is going to damage the UK Special Forces, they'll find a way to withhold it."

Speaking about the families of the three reservists who died, he said: "They are never going to get the full picture."

The father of Corporal Dunsby earlier told ITV News that he believed the "system failed" and "that's what killed my son".

Andy Mcnab, the former SAS soldier turned bestselling author, told Rupert Evelyn that while "clearly something" had gone wrong in the case, SAS training needed to be tough in order to produce elite fighters.

He said the idea that the military "don't care" was "absolute nonsense", insisting they "care more about their people than most other organisations".

ITV News has approached the Ministry of Defence for comment.