Neglect played part in SAS deaths, coroner rules

Neglect played a part in the deaths of three Army reservists who collapsed during an SAS test march on the Brecon Beacons in 2013, a coroner has ruled.

Senior Birmingham coroner Louise Hunt said Lance Corporal Edward Maher, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Corporal James Dunsby would have survived if Ministry of Defence regulations on heat illness had been followed.

She said a "chaotic" response to the men's collapse was just one of a "catalogue of very serious mistakes" made by defence staff.

"There was a complacent attitude to risk," she said.

A risk assessment taken two weeks before the fatal march was inadequate and did not address the increased risk of illness exhaustion, she said.

Ms Hunt said the reservists were not adequately conditioned for the march, and staff at checkpoints on the 16-mile route had failed to spot signs of heat exhaustion.