Families of three men who died after SAS training march in 2013 say more senior military figures should face court martial

The families of three men who suffered fatal heat illness during an SAS training march in the Brecon Beacons have expressed dismay that two relatively junior special services soldiers face charges of neglect rather than more senior figures or Ministry of Defence officials.

The two men, who have not been named, have been charged with “negligent performance of duty”, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of two years in custody and dismissal from the military.

They are to appear before a court martial, but no date for the hearing has been set.

It is understood that both men, identified only as 1A and 1B, gave evidence at the inquest into the deaths of the three men, Cpl James Dunsby, L/Cpl Edward Maher and L/Cpl Craig Roberts.

Soldier 1A was the training officer in charge of the march, and 1B was a training warrant officer helping oversee the exercise.

Relatives of all three have expressed disappointment and concern.

Maher’s relatives said: “As a family we have always felt that James’s, Craig’s and Edward’s deaths were the result of a corporate failure. We do not believe that apportioning blame to one or two individuals is the best way to ensure that these tragic events do not happen again.”

Dunsby’s father, David, said he felt “dispirited and disappointed that these two men are going to have to face trial when clearly others should be standing in front and not them”. The family of Roberts is also known to be disappointed.



Clare Stevens, a lawyer with Hilary Meredith solicitors who acts for Dunsby and the Roberts family, said: “I agree … that there are others, particularly higher in the chain of command, that should be facing charges, not least the corporate MoD. It’s also disappointing that it has taken over four years to get to this point, despite the inquest concluding over two years ago.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Brecon Beacons in south Wales. Photograph: Gareth Phillips/The Guardian

At the conclusion of the inquest in 2015, the coroner, Louise Hunt, highlighted a catalogue of errors by those who oversaw the march in the south Wales national park and described the emergency response as chaotic.



She wrote to the Ministry of Defence flagging up a dozen lessons that she believed needed to be learned to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. She said she was concerned that by the time of the inquest, two years after the men’s deaths, safety equipment still appeared to be inadequate.

Roberts, 24, and Maher and Dunsby, both 31, were part-time soldiers who wanted to try out for the SAS reserve, which works alongside regular troops in some of the most dangerous war zones.

They were among 78 men taking part in the march on and around Pen y Fan, the highest peak in south Wales, and were carrying replica rifles and rucksacks weighing at least 22kg. By early afternoon, as temperatures soared toward 30C, the three began to collapse.

The inquest, which took place in Solihull, West Midlands, heard that Dunsby and Roberts got to within minutes of the finishing line before they fell. Maher collapsed soon after leaving his final checkpoint.

The hearing was also told that a senior SAS officer said the march had not been called off because a cancellation would have generated too much paperwork. He said he could not remember making this remark.

The MoD was given the maximum sanction possible over the deaths of the three men last year. It escaped prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive only because it has crown immunity. Instead it was issued with a so-called crown censure, an official record of a failing to meet the standards set out in law.