Cpl Joshua Hoole died within an hour of collapsing on a hot day in Wales in 2016

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

An army officer was reported to military police after allegedly telling a more junior soldier to help change statements about a march on a very hot day in which a colleague died, an inquest has heard.

Cpl Joshua Hoole, 26, died within an hour of collapsing on a hot day during an annual fitness test (AFT) in Brecon, south Wales, in July 2016. The tragedy came three years after three army reservists suffered fatal heat illness during an SAS selection march in the Brecon Beacons.

On Tuesday, the inquest at Birmingham coroner’s court heard from another soldier, Cpl George Knight, who collapsed earlier on the same march.

He claimed that in July 2018 he was on a classroom course with Capt Colin Newfer, who had run the march in which Hoole died. The officer allegedly called him in for a chat about the incident.

Knight alleged Newfer asked him to help change witness statements made by other soldiers about how he – Knight – came to collapse in a hedgerow on the day of the fatal march.

Dijen Basu, representing the Ministry of Defence, asked Knight on Tuesday: “He [Newfer] takes you to one side, you go to his office and he says he wants to clear some stuff up – a deep and meaningful chat. What was his tone of voice?”

Knight replied: “It was a normal tone of voice,” adding: “I didn’t know really what to do, that’s why I was in contact with the Royal Military police.”

Asked if he did try to get people to change their statements, he replied “no,” adding: “I don’t know of anyone else (being asked to), as far as I know.”

Newfer was due to give evidence to the inquest later this week, and disputes the account given by Knight, the hearing has been told.

Former soldier Shane Pendall told the inquest on Tuesday it was “roasting” on the day of Hoole’s death, and was told by the medic he had “started to go white” after completing a steep incline.

“I just felt uncomfortable. I’ve seen quite a few people go down with heat on operations,” he told the court. “I wouldn’t say it got that far – if I had carried on, I could potentially be a heat casualty.”

The medic told him to withdraw and “get on the wagon” – an army minibus that was shadowing the group and picking up those who were dropping out.

In all, 18 out of the 41 junior non-commissioned officers, collapsed, had to pull out or were withdrawn.

The inquest also heard evidence on Tuesday presented by Hoole’s father, Philip Hoole, that the Ministry of Defence’s recorded average drop-out rate on the same march route in 2015, had been 3% of 708 participants.

The inquest continues.