British army veteran was killed when ISIS bomb exploded as he tried to defuse it, inquest hears 

A former British soldier was killed in Iraq when a bomb he was trying to defuse exploded, an inquest heard.

Stuart Coburn, 43, was working as a contractor in Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, when he died in August 2016. 

He had been attempting to neutralise the improvised explosive device (IED) inside a large skip when it detonated.

The device, made from five gas canisters, had a radio control trigger – set off by a mobile phone – and a dead man’s switch which could activate via movement.

Islamic State (ISIS) left the IED behind when it was driven from the area by Iraqi security forces, the inquest heard.

Mr Coburn, a former Army sergeant major from Shepton Mallet, Somerset, was working for an international mine clearance company at the time.

Giving evidence, Brigadier Gareth Collett, who retired from the Army as the Ministry of Defence’s senior explosive ordnance engineer and head of bomb disposal, said ISIS would have planned to put the skip on the back of a lorry and target military personnel.

‘What Islamic State had was time – a lot of time to make a lot of devices,’ he said.

‘The radio-controlled devices were pretty well made and designed.

‘When you are dealing with that level of skill or sophisticated device, you either leave it or wait for someone suitably qualified to come and deal with it.’

Brig Collett added: ‘The attrition rate was very high and they were being decimated by the coalition response and they probably ran out of lorries to put that skip onto.’

Senior Somerset coroner Samantha Marsh asked Brig Collett what the British military would have done in the circumstances.

Iraq’s elite counter-terrorism service patrol a suburb close to al-Sajariyah, east of the city of Ramadi in 2016

He replied: ‘On initial discovery we would have left it like Mr Coburn did. We would have discussed with the elders and the chiefs in the village.

‘We would have come back with electronic counter measures.

‘The first thing to do is take control of the switch.

‘You have to be able to dominate the area and if you can do that you want electronic measures to drive them out of the area.’

The international contractors did not have access to jammers on the day of the blast and were not allowed to blow the IED up, the inquest heard.

Asked what most likely caused the explosion, Brig Collett said: ‘I think it was probably the way in which the wires were cut.

‘The safest outcome would have been to refer it to the Iraqi authorities – it’s their responsibility and they have the duty to their people.

‘I would have blown it up where it was but hindsight is a wonderful thing.’

The inquest continues.