Two senior Army officers and a sergeant appeared in court charged with the manslaughter of a soldier killed by a stray bullet more than 1,000 yards away.
Ranger Michael Maguire, of the 1st Batallion, The Royal Irish Regiment, was taking part in a live ammunitions training exercise when he was fatally struck in the head.
Captain Jonathan Price, Colonel Richard Bell and Colour Sergeant Stuart Pankhurst, did not enter pleas when they appeared at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, yesterday.
Ranger Michael Maguire, of the 1st Batallion, The Royal Irish Regiment, was taking part in a live ammunition training exercise when he was fatally struck in the head by a stray round
Captain Jonathan Price, Colonel Richard Bell and Colour Sergeant Stuart Pankhurst, did not enter pleas when they appeared at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, yesterday, file pic
The exercise, at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire in May 2012, involved soldiers firing live rounds at both static and pop-up targets.
Captain Price had been in charge of the drill, while Colonel Bell and Colour Sergeant Pankhurst, handled the health and safety of the exercise
Assistant Judge Advocate General Alan Large said the three would face trial in May next year.
He said: ‘I will not arraign any of you today. We will do this at the next hearing when each of your counsel has had a chance to look at the documents served by the crown.
‘The next hearing in this case will be on January 26, and we will work towards a trial in May.
‘It has been a long time for both the family of the deceased and the defendants and so I hope we have no more delays.’
Ranger Maguire, 21, joined 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment in May 2010 and had completed a tour of Afghanistan with the troop.
A 2013 inquest found Ranger Maguire, who was 6ft 7in and known as ‘High Tower’, was killed after he had taken off his helmet to eat his lunch.
The soldier was airlifted to a hospital in Cardiff where he was pronounced dead.
It comes after the MOD revealed 139 soldiers have been killed in training exercises since 2000.
The figures showed 13 soldiers have been killed during live fire shooting exercises between 2000 and February 2017.
While 92 Army soldiers died on training, 24 Navy members and 23 people in the RAF also lost their lives.
Last month an inquest was launched over the death of Private Conor McPherson, 24, who was shot in the head on the first day of Exercise Wessex Storm in August 2016.
Private McPherson, of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed at the Heely Dod Range at Otterburn, Northumberland.
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