Cpl James Dunsby suffered fatal heat illness after covering 2km within 20 minutes in temperatures of 27C as he rushed to finish 16-mile march

It may have taken as long as 52 minutes for soldiers to get to an SAS candidate who collapsed within a few hundred metres of a main road and close to the finishing line of a 16-mile test march, an inquest has heard.

Cpl James Dunsby, who was one of three men who suffered fatal heat illness during the exercise in the Brecon Beacons, was racing to reach the final checkpoint when he became unconscious.

Soldiers who were in charge of directing the march gave vivid accounts of how they went to his aid and found him collapsed on the hillside, his kit strewn behind him, but it was suggested during questioning that he might have been reached more quickly.

Three army reservists – L/Cpl Craig Roberts, 24, L/Cpl Edward Maher and Cpl Dunsby, both 31 – died after suffering hyperthermia as temperatures reached 27C (80.6F) during the test in July 2013. At least seven more reservists suffered heat injuries.

The inquest into the men’s deaths has heard claims that the march was not called off despite the heat because a cancellation would have generated too much paperwork. Candidates have described running out of water, collapsing in the heat and having to be helped by civilians.

It has already emerged that Roberts was found collapsed around half a kilometre from the end of the course at a notorious spot nicknamed VW Valley – short for voluntary withdrawal – so called because so many participants give up there.

On day six of the inquest in Solihull, West Midlands, a fellow candidate described how Dunsby had run down from the top of Pen y Fan, the highest peak in southern Britain, believing he could reach the end in the required time to pass the test.

The unnamed candidate said: “After we went over Pen y Fan he ran on ahead saying he could make the time. I said to him: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t. I can’t go at that pace.’ That is the last time I saw him. I saw his Bergen [rucksack] bounce down the track.”

Dunsby covered an estimated 2km in 20 minutes but collapsed close to the A470 road and the final checkpoint. The driver of the test march’s command vehicle was tasked with going to find Dunsby after his tracker device showed he had stopped moving.

The man, an experienced regular soldier identified only by his codename 1L, had initially said he was given the task at around 4pm, the inquest heard. He said when he got to Dunsby he was lying on the hillside, breathing but unconscious and mumbling. He was wearing a short-sleeved top, combat trousers and boots, the rest of his kit strewn behind him.

1L said it looked as if Dunsby may have left the footpath and been heading straight toward the Beacons reservoir, where the finishing line was. “He may have been overwhelmed,” he said.

Dunsby’s “man down” button was activated at 4.52pm and 1L and a comrade tried to put the stricken man’s poncho over him, fanned him with a map and threw water over him. They and others carried him down the hill on a stretcher and waited for five minutes until a civilian ambulance arrived.

One of the issues being examined during the inquest is the response to the crisis.

Keith Morton QC, representing Dunsby’s father, David, suggested that 52 minutes was a long time to get to the spot if he was doing it with urgency. Soldier 1L said he meant that it was “around 16.00” that he had been tasked with finding Dunby and estimated that it had taken 20-25 minutes to reach him.

Soldier 1L also told the inquest that at first he had jumped into a vehicle after being told to look for Dunsby. The vehicle’s clutch had broken so he had to change his plan and proceed on foot. He left his radio in the vehicle when he did so. Asked if he had been panicking, he said rather he had been acting in haste.

Jonathan Hall QC, representing the Ministry of Defence, objected to the suggestion that it took as long as 52 minutes to reach Dunsby.

For the first time, the inquest heard details of another SAS march that took place the day after the three men died even though it remained hot.

More directing staff were put on duty to act as a “reaction force” in case of further problems. Extra water supplies were issued. But there was still an unspecified number of cases of heat illness on that second day.

The inquest continues.



