SAS recruit collapsed 'trying to meet finish line target'

Wales
Monday 8 June 2015 at 5:10pm

Lance Corporal Edward Maher, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, from Penrhyn Bay and Corporal James Dunsby died in July 2013.

An SAS reservist candidate collapsed after breaking into a run as he tried to meet a target time on the Brecon Beacons, an inquest heard.

Corporal James Dunsby, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, from Penrhyn Bay, and Lance Corporal Edward Maher, all died following a training march in July 2013. An inquest into their deaths is being held in Solihull.

The hearing was told Corporal Dunsby had been moving at a speed 'between running and a fast walk' when he collapsed from heat illness near a main road on the final leg of the 16-mile march.

Giving evidence on the sixth day of the inquest, a soldier identified only as 4Y said he and Cpl Dunsby had taken it in turns to go ahead as they climbed Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. He said Cpl Dunsby appeared to be 'quite worn down' on the slopes of the mountain, but as they descended the 886-metre mountain he increased his pace.

Soldier 4Y, who completed the march outside the required time, told the inquest he had struggled earlier in the march.

31-year-old Cpl Dunsby died at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 30, after suffering multiple organ failure caused by hyperthermia. The inquest continues.