A 21-year-old soldier was shot in the head during a live firing exercise that was set up in such a way that participants on one range were aiming directly at those in a neighbouring zone, a court martial has heard.

A lieutenant colonel, a captain and a warrant officer who were involved in the organisation of the exercise involving machine guns showed a “total disregard for the safety” of those involved and could have put people on a public beach in danger, it is claimed.

Ranger Michael Maguire, of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, was one of several soldiers who came under fire during the exercise at the Castlemartin training area in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, in May 2012.

Maguire, from County Cork, Ireland, was shot in the forehead. . He had joined the battalion two years earlier and had completed a tour of Afghanistan. The troops were in Wales preparing for deployment to Kenya.

Cpt Jonathan Price, 32, is accused of the manslaughter by gross negligence through his failure to set up and supervise a safe exercise. Lt Col Richard Bell, 45, and WO Stuart Pankhurst, 40, are both accused of negligently performing a duty.

Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, told the trial at Bulford in Wiltshire that the soldiers on the neighbouring ranges may have been visible to each other.

He said: “All three men played their part in causing this catastrophe in different ways. The common sense of the situation is you do not point guns at people, you do not design, permit or allow an activity that allows machine guns to fire directly in line with your men, men that you know are there, men that you might be able to see, if not the vehicles that are with them.”

He said Price was accused of negligence by failing to attend a recce of the range when preparing a range action safety plan (Rasp), that he placed targets too close together and that he failed to “deconflict” the two exercises.

“Crucially, he allowed firing to take place beyond the permitted arcs of fire,” Lickley said. “Such was the total disregard for the safety of his men that a public beach 3km away and anyone on it was put at risk of being hit, such was the range of the weapons being used, the SA80 [assault rifle] and the general purpose machine gun. It’s fortunate there were not more casualties.”

Bell, the senior planning officer, is accused of failing to review or countersign the Rasp produced by Price and of failing to supervise or support him.

Pankhurst, who was supervising the exercise involving Maguire on range 10A, was accused of failing to “express any caution or concern” despite having attended the recce and having knowledge of the extent of the adjacent shooting on range 10B.

All three defendants deny the charges and the trial, which is expected to last about six weeks, continues.



The panel of seven senior officers trying the case are to make a site visit to the firing range.