Legal News
Coroner to investigate death of soldier on training exercise (17 August 2015)
Date: 17/08/2015
The death of a solder who died in a canoeing accident on a training exercise is to be investigated by the Coroner.
The Mirror reports that Jamie Lee Sawyer, 20, from Birmingham died on 12 March while deployed on a United Nations peacekeeping tour in Cyprus.
At a pre-hearing review, Birmingham Coroner Louise Hunt said that she would look at a number of factors in Private Sawyer’s death – including the possible “lack of appreciation” of the weather forecast for the day of the training exercise and possible failures by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the management of the training exercise.
The Coroner will look into whether there was any storm warning system in place – and whether equipment provided to Pte Sawyer was “fit for purpose” – as well as how long a rescue boat took to reach the scene of the incident.
Several of Pte Sawyer’s colleagues will be called to give evidence at the full inquest on 1 December, according to the Birmingham Mail.
Pte Sawyer was a chef with the Royal Logistics Corps attached to the 2nd Battalion Battlegroup.
He was part of a group conducting Adventure Training in the Mediterranean Sea at the time of his death.
He had joined the army in April 2013 – and had taken part in several training exercises in the UK, before being deployed to Cyprus for a six-month tour of duty.
His Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Shove Gilby, described Pte Sawyer as a “deeply talented young chef, full of life and with a keen sense of humour”.
Pte Sawyer’s mother Tracey also paid tribute to her son:
“Jay was the best son and brother we could ever have asked for. He deeply loved his family and his infectious personality touched all those who knew him.
“We will miss his sense of humour and his outlook on life. He will leave a big hole in all of our lives but he will always be remembered as our hero.
“Dedicated to the Army, he died doing what he loved and we will all miss him very much.”
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