The father of a reservist soldier who died following an SAS test march was taken to the wrong location after asking to see where his son collapsed, a coroner has heard.
An inquest into the death of corporal James Dunsby and two other candidates heard there was “no rhyme or reason” as to why David Dunsby was taken to the wrong spot on the Brecon Beacons in south Wales.
The error was revealed by David Dunsby’s barrister, Keith Morton QC, during questioning of an SAS training officer who coordinated the fatal march in searing heat on 13 July 2013.
James Dunsby died in hospital 17 days after the test march. He and lance corporals Edward Maher and Craig Roberts all suffered fatal heatstroke as temperatures in the area peaked at 28.1C (82F).
During his questioning of a training officer known, by the codename 1B, on Tuesday, Morton said: “After the event, Mr Dunsby, James’s father, was taken to a location which he was told was the point where James was found.”
In fact, the inquest heard that Dunsby was found collapsed at a spot further down the mountain just a few hundred metres from a main road and not far from the finishing line of the 16-mile march. Morton said the spot where Dunsby’s father was taken was “obviously wrong.”
1B, a former Royal Marine who joined the special forces in 1993, answered: “There is no rhyme or reason why that should have been done. There is a 10-figure grid reference as to where James was found.”
1B, who recently left the military after 29 years’ service, was giving evidence for a second day to the inquest in Solihull, West Midlands.
Asked about his risk assessment for the march and his actions that day, 1B said more than 70 SAS candidates, including the men who died, were making good time before a “catastrophic” situation developed.
1B told the hearing that of the 78 who began the march, 71 were on target to finish within the allotted time – eight hours and 48 minutes. “Students were making good time. In fact I thought that they were doing well on that march,” he said.
But 1B claimed it took “a different type of person” to work in specialist military units. “As somebody who had joined the Royal Marines from school, it was always curious to me as to why somebody who had a civilian job would want to do what I was doing,” 1B said.
“I did feel that some of them [reserve candidates] didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for with regard to the test week and what was required.”
Reserve unit candidates had a high “degradation rate” during test week, with fewer than 50% making it through, 1B told the inquest.
On Monday, Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, questioned 1B about the preparation reservists had in the week before the test-week exercise.
“It wasn’t something I believed I was required to know,” 1B told Hunt. “I had a conversation [with a reserve unit instructor] with regards to the standard of the students, that they were prepared and set for test week, and he told me that they were good, strong candidates.
“I had no reason whatsoever to believe that any of these students were not of the standard they were required to be.”
Questions about the amount of water available to the candidates were also put to 1B, who was referred to by a cipher to protect his identity.
The soldier, who had previously taken around 600 potential recruits through nine previous selection courses dating back to 2006, said: “There were no [radio] transmissions saying that students were drinking more water than normal. There were no alarm bells at that time ringing in my head.”
The inquest continues.
