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British Army officer accused of the manslaughter of a young soldier from Cork

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  • British Army officer accused of the manslaughter of a young soldier from Cork



    Officer ‘said I’ve messed up haven’t I’ after shooting soldier from Cork dead, UK court martial told
    Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 08:21 PM


    A British Army officer accused of the manslaughter of a young soldier from Cork who was shot in the head during a training exercise allegedly said after the incident “I’ve messed up haven’t I?”, a court martial heard.

    Ranger Michael Maguire, of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, died after coming under machine gun fire during an exercise at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in May 2012.

    The 21-year-old, from County Cork, was shot in the forehead and killed during training that was preparing the troops for deployment to Kenya.

    Captain Jonathan Price, 32, now of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish, is accused of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Rgr Maguire through his failure to set up and supervise a safe exercise.

    The prosecution alleges he failed to attend a recce of the range when preparing a Range Action Safety Plan (Rasp), that he placed targets too close together, and he failed to “deconflict” the two exercises.

    Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bell, 45, and Warrant Officer Stuart Pankhurst, 40, are both accused of negligently performing a duty.
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    Lt Col Bell, the senior planning officer, is accused of failing to review or counter-sign the Rasp produced by Capt Price, and failing to supervise or support him.

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

    Steven Philipps-Harries, a range officer at Castlemartin, told the court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, of a conversation he had with Capt Price in the aftermath of the fatal shooting.

    We looked to the extreme left where the grass was to show him how out of arc his targets were

    Steven Philipps-Harries, retired Army warrant officer
    Mr Philipps-Harries, a retired British Army warrant officer and now a Ministry of Defence employee, explained how, after being alerted to an incident, he had driven to the range and went to find Capt Price, and saw some targets sticking in the sand.

    “I said what is that target over there, and he said it is a switch-fire target.

    “He took me to the position where he had triangulated the target from,” Mr Philipps-Harries said.

    “We looked to the extreme left where the grass was to show him how out of arc his targets were and you could quite clearly see where the casualty was.

    “I said, you can see how out of arc your targets are. He said ‘I’ve messed up haven’t I? What do you think will happen to me?’

    “I said I didn’t know.”

    Mr Philipps-Harries said he left the range to check the submitted Rasp because he had seen a GPMG machine gun at area 10A and spoken to WO Pankhurst about it.

    “I went back to the office as I didn’t remember seeing anything about a GPMG being fired so I went back to satisfy my own curiosity,” he said.

    Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, asked him: “Not being on the Rasp – does that mean it was planned or unplanned activity?”

    Mr Philipps-Harries replied: “Unplanned.”

    He told the court he had briefed Capt Price on his arrival for the week-long exercise about the different ranges at Castlemartin and introduced him to his range warden.

    Mr Philipps-Harries also told the board that he checked the Rasp that Capt Price gave him, particularly the medical evacuation plan.

    “We were not instructed to check for gross errors, but checking it I noticed there had not been a signature from the senior planning officer,” he said.

    “There had been a new format about how Rasps had to be produced and this one was not following that.

    “I said to him in the future that he needed to use the correct Rasp format.”

    Earlier the court heard from Adrian Boyd, who said Capt Price had briefed all the soldiers before the exercise started, and he had also received another briefing from his section commander.

    Under cross-examination Mr Boyd, who has since left the British Army, accepted he was “absolutely content” with the briefings he had received and to go on to the range.

    All three defendants deny the charges and the trial before a board of seven senior officers continues.

    - Press Association

  • #2
    Poor drills by all involved in running the ex.
    For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

    Comment


    • #3
      it reads as outright laziness and an almost Irish, "Yerra, it'll do" attitude. Either way, with a fatality, their careers are over....

      Comment


      • #4
        Ranger Michael Maguire was killed by a stray bullet during an exercise set up by Capt Jonathan Price.


        Michael Maguire death: Captain 'did not follow rules'
        Ranger Michael Maguire
        An army officer accused of manslaughter while on duty did not follow "a lot of rules and regulations", a court heard.

        Ranger Michael Maguire, 21, died at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire in May 2012 during an exercise set up by Capt Jonathan Price.

        He was hit and killed by a stray bullet from while he was in a safe zone.

        The court martial heard Capt Price's conduct "was not good" on the day of the incident. He denies manslaughter by negligence.

        Capt Price, 32, now of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish, is accused of failing to set up and supervise a safe exercise.

        The court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, heard he attended a live fire tactical training course, but despite passing he did not know it was advised he could have benefitted from extra supervision while setting up live exercises.

        Matthew Sherratt, representing Capt Price, said: "It would be difficult to criticise him for leaving that course not at the standard he should have been."

        'Messed up'
        Giving expert evidence, Lt Col Chris Rose, former chief instructor to the Infantry Battle School, said Capt Price's conduct "was not good" on the day of the incident.

        He said: "I have no knowledge of the conduct he did on 1 May but his conduct on 2 May was not good.

        "I reviewed the Rasp [Range Action Safety Plan] against what I expect a young officer to deliver. It's a poor Rasp.

        "There were a lot of rules and regulations that were not followed."

        The court martial previously heard Capt Price set up targets "negligently" and told a colleague he had "messed up" after the death of Ranger Maguire of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment.

        Two other officers, Lt Col Richard Bell, 45, and Warrant Officer Stuart Pankhurst, 40, are both accused of negligently performing a duty.

        All three defendants deny the charges. The trial continues.
        'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
        'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
        Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
        He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
        http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

        Comment


        • #5
          A  British Army officer has been jailed for 18 months after being convicted over the death of a 21-year-old soldier from Co Cork who was shot during a training exercise in the UK in 2012.


          British Army officer jailed over Irish soldier's death

          A British Army officer has been jailed for 18 months after being convicted over the death of a 21-year-old soldier from Co Cork who was shot during a training exercise in the UK in 2012.

          Captain Jonathan Price, 32, was also dismissed from the British Army after being found guilty last month of the manslaughter of Ranger Michael Maguire by gross negligence following a seven-week court martial in Wiltshire.

          Two other officers, 46-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bell, and Warrant Officer Stuart Pankhurst, 40, were convicted of negligently performing a duty.

          Col Bell lost one year's seniority as a lieutenant colonel, which could affect his promotion prospects, while WO2 Pankhurst was fined £3,000.

          Rgr Maguire was one of several soldiers who came under machine gun fire during an exercise at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire in May 2012 for members of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment.

          He died after being hit in the forehead by a stray bullet from a machine gun.

          The three defendants were accused of having "a total disregard for the safety" of their men when they organised a live ammunition exercise ahead of deployment to Kenya.

          After the shooting Capt Price, who was a lieutenant at the time, said to one witness: "I've messed up, haven't I?"

          The court heard that soldiers on one part of Range 10 were firing directly at those in another part of the range, who were about 1km away and would have been visible.

          Capt Price, now of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish, failed to set up and supervise a safe exercise, failed to attend a recce of the range when preparing a range action safety plan (Rasp), placed targets too close together and failed to "deconflict" the two exercises.

          Col Bell, who was then a major and Capt Price's company commander, was the senior planning officer for the exercise and failed to review or counter-sign the Rasp produced by Capt Price and failed to supervise or support him.

          WO Pankhurst, who was an acting sergeant supervising the exercise, failed to produce a Rasp for the machine gun firing which he was supervising.

          It emerged after the convictions that the British Ministry of Defence has received a Crown Censure for breaches of health and safety regulations.

          Mathew Sherratt QC, representing Capt Price, said he had recently married and had a 10-year-old stepson and urged the court to impose a suspended sentence.

          "It was his dream to be in the regiment. He accepts that is finished and that is huge punishment," he said.

          "The punishment of the loss of his career is devastating for this young man. I suggest that if he could ever turn the clock back he would and he should have gone to get some help."

          Mr Sherratt said there were "systemic issues" in the British Army and there had been changes to procedures after the death of Rgr Maguire.


          Ranger Maguire died while taking part in an exercise in Wales in May 2012
          Puneet Rai, representing married father-of-two Col Bell, said he was on the reserve list to be promoted to full colonel and a recent posting had been withdrawn as a result of the conviction.

          "It is accepted by the Ministry of Defence that there were failings in the system which contributed to where we are today," she said.

          "Since the day of this incident Col Bell has made it his personal crusade to make sure that the failings within the system are challenged."

          Catherine Bradshaw, representing married father-of-three WO2 Pankhurst, said that any loss of rank would be particularly hard on him and suggested should receive a reprimand and fine.

          "For WO2 Pankhurst, who joined the Army with the aspiration of becoming regimental sergeant major of his local regiment, not to have the coveted position of sergeant major comes as a blow to him," she added.

          Passing sentence on behalf of the court martial board, Assistant Judge Advocate General Alan Large said Capt Price's negligence was so great that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.

          "We have no doubt that the offence of gross negligence manslaughter committed in the circumstances of this case and after a contested trial are so serious that an immediate prison sentence is required," he said.

          The judge said the board had reduced the sentence from a starting point of four years after taking into account Capt Price's exemplary service to the country, including a tour to Afghanistan.

          "Taking into account all the mitigation, imprisonment for 18 months is the shortest sentence we can pass. We do not consider it appropriate to suspend the sentence."From
          'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
          'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
          Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
          He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
          http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

          Comment


          • #6
            And each of them has been promoted since?

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by DeV View Post
              And each of them has been promoted since?
              I presume because of "time served" if nothing else.
              'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
              'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
              Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
              He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
              http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Flamingo View Post
                I presume because of "time served" if nothing else.
                with a manslaughter charge over them?

                Comment


                • #9
                  I’m not sure if anything could have been held up until after the case had been heard. I’m just surmising what happened, I don’t have any specialist knowledge. Maybe Ropebag has a better idea of how it works.
                  'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
                  'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
                  Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
                  He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
                  http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Responsible for everything your unit does and fails to do

                    Comment

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