THE widow of SAS training death victim James Dunsby has accused the Ministry of Defence of “no responsibility, no accountability, and no humility” for its role in “creating the culture” that lead to his death – and those of his two colleagues.

Mr Dunsby’s widow, Bryher Dunsby, made a statement after this morning’s narrative ruling ending an inquest into the deaths.

She challenged the MoD not to let “pride and ego” prevent the implementation of changes  that “appropriately honour the memories of three extraordinary young men.”

Her statement in full:

“The events that took place two years ago yesterday and the process that we have all subsequently been through and the findings that were announced today could never alter the truth that James loved the army.

“There are times during the course of this inquest when the Ministry of Defence has lost sight of the importance of their very own values and standards.

“They displayed no responsibility, no accountability, and no humility for their role in creating the culture which lead to the events on the 13 July 2013.

“Even an ounce of this would have gone such a long way in acknowledging the vast catalogue of errors which were so clearly made.

“Those qualities and values were surely the very least that should have been displayed to honour the memory of three of their own.

“James would have been so hugely disappointed by the behaviour of an organisation for which he had fought for and for which he ultimately lost his life.

 “The evidence in this inquest has revealed a list of countless and quite honestly embarrassing failings which anyone with pride in our armed forces would find to be shocking and unacceptable. The choices that were available have all been made. The words to be spoken have all been said.

“If only we were unable to unpick the stitches of time to go back and make better decisions. Sadly this is not how life works.

“No part of the armed forces can be below scrutiny or above the law but unless and until those at the top acknowledge and accept responsibility for the failings of their organisation, cultures will not change and mistakes of the past will be repeated.

“So, looking forward to the future, it is my ardent wish and plea that as an institution the MoD has the maturity to look at its failings and to want to improve. I so dearly hope that pride and ego will not continue to blind individuals from implementing the changes which so evidently must be made.

“My challenge to the Ministry of Defence is not to allow those most tragic events to be in vain and that with the opportunity to change to equipment, training and procedure they appropriately honour the memories of three extraordinary young men.”

“Please find a moment this evening to remember Craig Roberts, Ed Maher and James Dunsby.”

In another statement made after the hearing, the family of Maher said:  “The SAS must distinguish between training and operational activities. Our son was not on active service in July 2013; he was undergoing selection on a Welsh hillside and it is unacceptable he paid for that training with his life.”

Brigadier John Donnelly, director personal services army, apologised for identified failings but said that candidates had to undergo rigorous testing.

He said: “We are truly sorry for all the mistakes the coroner identified today. We have already made a number of changes to the exercise in terms of the way it is run.

But we will study the coroner’s conclusion very carefully and make sure that everything possible is done to prevent a reoccurrence of an incident such as this. We will also hold our own service inquiry as soon as all the civil investigations have finished.

“It is necessary to train our soldier to the highest standards to meet the security challenges we face in this country and oversees and to do this requires our individuals to push themselves and take some risk. However we must ensure those risks are carefully managed. In this case we did not do this and accept responsibility.”

Coroner Louise Hunt confirmed that she would be making recommendations to the MoD to prevent further deaths.

She said she was still concerned about the new tracker device being used on exercises and remained unconvinced that the MoD was learning from previous tragedies.

She was worried, too, that the MoD still had not put in place clear guidance about how to deal with heat illness.

SAS INQUEST – KEY FINDINGS

The risk assessment was “inadequate and not fit for purpose” with a failure to incorporate the weather conditions, a failure to understand the significance of the weather forecast and its implications for heat illness, and a failure to consider actual water requirements.

There was a “general lack of understanding of heat illness and the risks posed to candidates”.

There was inadequate training for staff in charge of the test.

There was a failure to implement an adequate medical plan.

The tracker system designed to show if the men had stopped was “not fit for purpose”.

There was a “culture of following what had gone before" without giving any consideration to specific risks.

There was a “failure to appreciate" that candidates would push themselves to their limit and have an “overwhelming desire to succeed – do or die”.

The reservists did not do build-up marches.

There were “systemic failures … in the planning, training and organisation of this endurance event”.