The Army has apologised for the death of Hengoed soldier Gavin Williams, who died after being subjected to an unlawful punishment known as “beasting”.
Private Williams, 22, a member of 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh Regiment, collapsed in July 2006 at Lucknow Barracks in Tidworth, Wiltshire, from heatstroke.
Salisbury Coroner’s Court heard the soldier was ordered to vigorously march around the parade square lifting weight bags while wearing full kit for around 20 minutes.
Captain Mark Davis had ordered that Williams be brought to his office “hot and sweaty” to discipline the soldier for recent drunken behaviour.
The inquest was told that on the day before his death, Pte Williams turned up to guard room duty in flip-flops and a vest and that he had also taken ecstasy a few nights before.
On the morning of the punishment, Pte Williams had told colleagues he “did not feel up to it”.
Speaking outside the court on Friday, January 8, Brigadier John Donnelly, the Army’s head of personal services, said: “I apologise for the failings that led to Gavin’s death and accept responsibility for them.
“Our thoughts are with Gavin’s family and friends, particularly his mother, Debra, her partner, Adrian, and Gavin’s sister, Zeta. This inquest has been a difficult time for them and I pay tribute to the dignity that they have shown.
“We acknowledge that there was a culture of unofficial punishments within 2 R Welsh at the time of Gavin’s death. This is unacceptable, and was unacceptable. We have already conducted our own inquiry into the incident and made a number of improvements to try to ensure that it does not happen again, which the coroner has recognised.
“We will now study the coroner’s conclusion carefully to ensure we continue to do all that we can to prevent such a tragedy occurring in the future, for which we are truly sorry.”
Williams’ mother, who had campaigned for almost a decade to find out what happened, said her son had been the victim of “inhuman and degrading” treatment.
She said: “What happened to Gavin was wrong, plain and simple. He was killed by the way in which his fellow soldiers chose to punish him unlawfully – to beast him – for nothing more than a silly prank. The nature of that beasting was so inhuman and degrading that it cannot be tolerated in any civilised world.
“The coroner’s conclusions and findings demand urgent and careful attention of the highest ranks within the army and I look to them to act on those findings without delay.”
Recording a narrative verdict, Alan Large, assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, said Pte Williams could have been saved if he had been diagnosed with heat injury during the course of the day when he was seen by a doctor – although the medic had not been told of the “beasting” punishment.
He said: ““Gavin died as the result of the imposition of unofficial physical punishment in the form of a marching drill and physical exercise conducted on a very hot day.
“This punishment was part of a system of such unofficial punishments operating in the battalion which the chain of command failed to identify or prevent.”
It is a sad fact that it was drugs that killed him and not the beasting which every soldier goes through at some point in they’re early career, he had done Ecstasy that same weekend. Do not blame the army which has carried out this so called beasting for as long back as the modern army has been created. Drugs kill guys so don’t blame someone else for the acts of one individual who was a risk to his comrades as well as himself
He Actually Died of HEATSTROKE, you disrespect the situation and your comment is inappropriate and grossly disrespectful.