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Families fight for appeal over Brecon soldiers deaths

Prosecutors are reviewing a decision not to bring criminal charges over the deaths of three soldiers who collapsed during an SAS training exercise in the Brecon Beacons last year.

Corporal James Dunsby, Lance Corporal Edward Maher and Lance Corporal Craig Roberts died in July last year. Credit: Ministry of Defence

A pre-inquest was told that the review, launched by the Crown Prosecution Service after an appeal by two of the soldiers' families, may delay a full inquest into the deaths of Edward Maher, Craig Roberts and James Dunsby.

The Army reservists died after taking part in a training exercise on Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons last July.

An inquest into all three deaths was due to begin in Solihull, West Midlands, in October but may now be postponed until May next year.

Lance Corporal Craig Roberts, 24, from Penrhyn Bay near Llandudno, Lance Corporal Edward Maher, 31, and Corporal James Dunsby, 31, from Bath, were taking part in a 40-mile hike in temperatures reaching 29C.

Two of the families have submitted appeals against the CPS decision. It is very clearly my view that we cannot conduct the inquest until those appeals have been concluded.

– Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull

The full inquest is expected to hear from soldiers who were manning checkpoints at the time of the training exercise and other military personnel involved in its management.

Read more: Soldiers died from 'overheating' during Brecon exercise