Patcham soldier's colleagues were "in disbelief" over vehicle choice, inquest hears (From The Argus)

Patcham soldier's colleagues were "in disbelief" over vehicle choice, inquest hears

2:53pm Monday 1st March 2010 in

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UPDATED: Soldiers expressed "disbelief" over the lightly-armoured vehicles they were given ahead of an explosion which killed a Patcham soldier and three of his comrades in Afghanistan, an inquest heard today.

Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, 28, of the Royal Signals, was killed east of Lashkar Gah when her Snatch Land Rover was hit by a mine on June 17 2008.

He died alongside Territorial Army special forces soldiers Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Private Paul Stout, 31 and Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, who was the first female soldier to die in the Afghan conflict.

The back wheel of their Snatch Land Rover hit a pressure-plated IED (improvised explosive device) hidden in a ditch.

A Staff Sergeant, known as Soldier O, told Wiltshire Coroner's Court, sitting at Trowbridge Town Hall: "The use of a Snatch Land Rover was met with disbelief from virtually everybody.

"I questioned the vehicle's suitability to be used in that environment with regard to the type of work we would be doing mentoring the Afghan National Police (ANP) and conducting operations with the ANP.

"During the pre-deployment training it was an aspiration of our chain of command to find more suitable vehicles such as WMIKs, the Vector vehicle, an armoured vehicle, and other vehicles I have no knowledge of.

"They were trying to secure us alternative vehicles because I believe that the chain of command shared our views."

He added: "The British Army works on the fact sometimes you can't access all the best equipment available.

"You need to adapt and make do with the best you have got, which is credible but not always right.

"You get on with the task at hand and that was certainly a view that I shared in pre-deployment training."

The soldier, who was commanding two groups of Snatch Land Rovers - known as multiples - also said that they had not been trained in using metal detectors back in the UK due to an equipment shortage.

"It was my belief there was not only a theatre-wide shortage of that equipment but if it was theatre-wide it would certainly be back at home as well," he said.

An Ebex metal detector only became available four months into the deployment, from December 2007, and the soldiers had to scan the ground for IEDs.

He added that there should have been two detectors for each multiple of three vehicles, but there was just one due to shortages.

"We were fortunate enough to have a member of the multiple who had previous knowledge of this equipment who was able to show us how to put it together and then use that piece of equipment," he said.

"But we didn't receive any formal training on that piece of equipment."

Post-mortem examinations showed that L/Cpl Larkin, from Cookley in Kidderminster, Worcs, died of injuries to the chest and abdomen following an explosion.

Cpl Bryant, from Chicksands, Bedfordshire, Cpl Reeve, from Patcham, Brighton, and Pte Stout, from Woolton in Liverpool, died of blast wounds caused by an explosion.

They were in the Land Rover with a fifth soldier, the sole survivor, known as Soldier E.

Their patrol was instructed to provide vehicle checkpoints to help the Afghan police disrupt enemy lines of communication and recapture prisoners that had escaped from a prison in Kandahar.

The Snatch Land Rovers were then ordered to join the Scots Guards and deal with an enemy casualty.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Masters said: "Its rear wheels then at that ditch detonated a massive explosion, causing immediate devastation to the vehicle and in probability the instant deaths of Corporal Bryant, Private Stout, Corporal Reeve.

"Lance Corporal Larkin, the driver, was trapped by the steering wheel in the upturned vehicle and was also found to have died."

Describing the blast, Soldier O said: "There was a loud explosion. In fact a huge explosion which I witnessed.

"My first radio message was contact IED. For seconds it was shock because the last time I saw Soldier E he was using the mine detection equipment. I assumed that one person had detonated the device."

Soldier O said he could not see a ditch but he confirmed that a culvert had been searched.

Mr Masters said the wreckage of the Snatch Land Rover was upside down and crumpled inwards.

The vehicle was found five metres from the crater, which was half a metre deep and one metre in diameter.

The six-day inquest will look into the suitability of Snatch Land Rovers for the patrol, the type of metal detectors used and the drills carried out for landmines and roadside bombs.

Mr Masters said: "The bounds of this inquest should encompass issues relating to the concerns about the suitability of Snatch Land Rovers by reference to their capability and another concern which was expressed about the training for the Operation Barma drills.

"Another issue that we considered at the pre-inquest hearing relating to the death of Lance Corporal Larkin was whether or not a collapsible steering wheel could be fitted."