Death-traps! Anger over Army vehicles as families lash out at top brass over lethal defects which led to a string of deaths

Lethal defects affecting some of Britain’s most well-used military vehicles led to a string of deaths – after ‘negligent’ defence officials failed to take action despite warnings years earlier.

Five soldiers died in four incidents between 2017 and 2022, involving the Challenger II tank, Warrior and Jackal armoured vehicles, and the Scimitar light tank, a Mail audit found.

Service inquiry reports – internal MoD inquiries into deaths or serious incidents – into the tragedies identified almost 300 failings and made 227 recommendations.

As well as vehicle defects, the reports identified shortcomings in maintenance and training.

This newspaper has conducted a forensic audit of these cases revealing how commanders repeatedly missed opportunities to prevent the deaths.

Now, as defence chiefs must cut expenditure by hundreds of millions, there are fears other fatal accidents will follow.

Matthew Hatfield: Died in Challenger II explosion in 2017 during a “live fire” exercise at Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire

Furious families accused top brass of having ‘blood on their hands’ – and called for an urgent review of the armoured vehicle fleet.

Moira Watson-Pickering’s son, Private Jethro, 23, died in 2021. He was driving a badly maintained Scimitar when its gun barrel hit a tree, the turret spinning unexpectedly and hitting him.

She said: ‘We, the families, understand there’s an element of risk. (But) when they’ve known about this issue yet they’ve failed to do anything, that to me is negligent. It’s the only word for it.’

Ms Watson-Pickering said: ‘Changes need to be put in place before another soldier is killed or maimed.’

A service inquiry report found the Scimitar’s gun turret had been expanded to accommodate extra equipment, creating a risk of collision with the driver, and revealed therewere three ‘near-miss’ incidents since 2008.

An inquest in June heard the 7.6-ton, open-top vehicle had stability problems and had overturned 40 times since its introduction in 2008. Two reports from 2009 and 2010 found the roll cage – a structure to protect occupants in the event of the vehicle overturning – was also insufficient to protect tall occupants.

An inquest in June heard the 7.6-ton, open-top vehicle had stability problems and had overturned 40 times since its introduction in 2008. 

Two reports from 2009 and 2010 found the roll cage – a structure to protect occupants in the event of the vehicle overturning – was also insufficient to protect tall occupants.

The inquest heard the 6ft 4in soldier’s head was subjected to such ‘severe force’ that his height made no difference. Jurors identified a string of failings.

Jethro Watson-Pickering: Killed in 2021 while driving faulty Scimitar when its gun barrel hit a tree, the turret spinning unexpectedly and hitting him

A service inquiry report found the Scimitar’s gun turret had been expanded to accommodate extra equipment, creating a risk of collision with the driver, and revealed therewere three ‘near-miss’ incidents since 2008. Pictured: Scimitar Light Recconnaisance Tank

Staff Sgt McKelvie’s sister, Jackie Welsh, said: ‘John had tours of duty in Kosovo, Bosnia, Kuwait and Iraq; he put himself in dangerous situations for years. Then he was killed in a training exercise accident that was avoidable and preventable.’

Mrs Welsh added: ‘These defects had lethal consequences. If the MoD did their job properly my brother would be alive.

Darren Neilson: Died in 2017 after a design flaw with the Challenger II tank led to an explosion in the turret during a live firing exercise

‘The MoD failed him and they failed our family. They have blood on their hands.’

In another tragedy, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans Corporal Matthew Hatfield, 27, a young father from Wiltshire, and Corporal Darren Neilson, 31, from Lancashire, died in 2017 after a design flaw with the Challenger II tank led to an explosion in the turret during a live firing exercise.

A fail-safe which would have prevented the explosion was removed from the Challenger II’s original design in the 1980s and investigators found the tragedy could have happened ‘at any time’ since.

And Second Lieutenant Max George, 26, from County Durham – awarded the Queen’s Medal at Sandhurst for achieving the best results in military, academic and practical studies of his cohort – was crushed to death by a reversing Warrior armoured personnel carrier in 2022.

An alarm fitted to the vehicle after serious accidents in the 1990s and 2000s – telling the driver if a rear door used by troops onboard to enter and exit the passenger area was still open – had not worked for four years. Retired Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp said: ‘It sounds from these cases that there does appear to be negligence.

‘There appears to be a failure of leadership in ensuring proper procedures were followed and maintenance done.

Max George: Died in 2022 after being crushed to death by a reversing Warrior armoured personnel carrier

A blind spot at the rear of the Warrior armoured personnel carrier (pictured) led to eight reversing accidents in which three people died between 1998 and 2010 

‘The MoD definitely needs to look very closely to see if there’s a systematic problem here.’

Former SAS soldier turned author Andy McNab added: ‘There’s a duty of care owed by the military to troops and this needs to be sorted out.

‘This would appear to be down to money. However, incidents like these end up costing the MoD a lot and there are going to be huge compensation claims.

‘It’s hard enough recruiting troops and this kind of thing is not going to help.’

A soldier injured in one of the incidents said: ‘I’m just disgusted the same issues of not rectifying serious flaws in vehicles have kept happening.’ Jonathan Cloudsdale, of law firm Simpson Millar, representing some of the affected soldiers in compensation claims, said: ‘It is absolutely imperative the MoD takes on board the findings of the various reports and inquest outcomes to prevent potential risk to life.’

The failings can be revealed as the Daily Mail’s Don’t Leave Britain Defenceless campaign calls on ministers to increase funding for the Armed Forces to at least 2.5 per cent of GDP.

The Health and Safety Executive has investigated all four incidents. It is taking the MoD to a Crown Censure hearing in October over Staff Sgt McKelvie’s death – a special hearing where the MoD will receive a formal reprimand because it is normally immune from prosecution – while HSE inquiries continue into the other three incidents.

John McKelvie: Killed when a Jackal overturned on a steep slope in 2019

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘Our thoughts and sympathies are always with the families, friends, and colleagues of those who have died.

‘We owe a clear duty of care to personnel which we take extremely seriously.

‘We’re wholly committed to organisational learning which can better enable us to deliver that duty.

‘The majority of recommendations made in these cases have been accepted and actioned.’ 

The five soldiers who lost their lives… despite years of urgent warnings

WARRIOR

Armoured personnel carrier (1987-present); used in Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Promising young officer Max George was killed because of a defect known about by military top brass since 1998.

A blind spot at the rear of the Warrior armoured personnel carrier led to eight reversing accidents in which three people died between 1998 and 2010.

An alarm was fitted to alert the driver if the rear door was not closed – but investigators found it had not functioned for four years on the vehicle which reversed over 2nd Lt George.

An Army soldier died exiting the Warrior (file photo) when his equipment became caught in the rear door during an exercise on Salisbury Plain on June 21, 2022

The 26-year-old, of Fifth Battalion The Rifles, died exiting the Warrior when his equipment became caught in the rear door during an exercise on Salisbury Plain on June 21, 2022.

A service inquiry report found that had the alarm been working, ‘the accident would not have occurred’, while the vehicle had 24 other faults and should not have been in use. 

The report highlighted shortfalls posing ‘credible risk to life’: lack of knowledge that the rear door alarm existed, lack of safe procedure for ‘debussing’ troops, the ‘blind spot’ for drivers and lack of an ‘all clear’ switch to inform the vehicle commander troops inside had exited.

An inquest into 2nd Lt George’s death has been adjourned by the Wiltshire coroner. The MoD has fixed the alarms and accepted most of the inquiry recommendations.

SCIMITAR

Tracked light tank, (1974 to 2023); deployed in Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some donated to Ukraine and others sold to an Eastern European country.

Soldiers driving the Scimitar were in danger of collision with the turret after it was widened to accommodate storage for extra onboard equipment, a report found.

The risk occurred if the driver was in a ‘head-up’ position, with their head and shoulders out of the vehicle in order to see ahead – common in ‘non-tactical’ situations – instead of lowered inside.

There were three previous near-miss accidents involving the widened turret, as long ago as 2008, more than 13 years before the death of Private Jethro Watson-Pickering.

Private Jethro Watson-Pickering, 23, of First Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, died on October 15, 2021, when his Scimitar’s gun collided with a tree while he drove ‘head-up’ on Salisbury Plain – causing a ‘violent rotation’. Two other soldiers were seriously injured

The soldiers were training in Salisbury Plain, Wilts, near the village of Enford on October 15, 2021 when the tank flipped. Pictured, the scene after the soldier’s death

The 23-year-old, of First Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, died on October 15, 2021, when his Scimitar’s gun collided with a tree while he drove ‘head-up’ on Salisbury Plain – causing a ‘violent rotation’. Two other soldiers were seriously injured.

In an earlier incident, fittings came loose, causing the turret to rotate without warning. In another, from October 2015, a driver needed hospital treatment, also after striking a tree.

A service inquiry report found previous incidents were not properly investigated and no changes were made to mitigate risk, Pte Watson-Pickering and his two colleagues were inadequately trained, while the vehicle was in poor repair and ‘should not have been in use’.

An inquest has been adjourned by the Wiltshire coroner. The MoD has accepted all service inquiry recommendations and instructed soldiers not to drive ‘head-up’. The tank is no longer in UK service.

JACKAL

Armoured troop carrier (2008 to present): Introduced in Afghanistan, later deployed in Poland and Mali. Four loaned by the MoD to Estonia in 2020.

Replacing ‘death-trap’ snatch Land Rovers, which provided scant protection against the Taliban’s roadside bombs, the Jackal was ordered in 2008 but shortcomings were quickly identified: a 2009 review found the roll cage did not protect tall soldiers, while a 2010 report highlighted ‘credible deficiencies’, including risk of crush injury if the vehicle overturned.

Stability issues came to light after 40 ‘rollover’ accidents.

Reservist Staff Sergeant John McKelvie, 51, of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry, was on a Jackal driving course on January 29, 2019, when his vehicle overturned on a steep slope at Catterick, North Yorkshire. He suffered multiple brain injuries. 

Rollover horror: The Jackal armoured troop carrier had dangerous stability issues

Wing Commander Paul Summers, president of the service inquiry which investigated the 6ft 4in father-of-two’s death and found 179 failures, told an inquest in June there was ‘no evidence of anything being done’ to fix the vehicle’s problems. 

He said: ‘The Army was not a good safety learning organisation.’

The inquest jury said the tragedy resulted from lack of a neck and head support, unsuitability of the training ground for the vehicle, SSgt McKelvie’s inexperience in driving it, and lack of supervision by his chain of command. 

The MoD said there has been a ‘complete revision of policies’ since the incident.

CHALLENGER II

The Army’s main battle tank (1994 to present); used in the Gulf Wars and Kosovo. Fourteen have been sent to Ukraine, where they are being used in the incursion into Russia.

Two men died after a blast in a Challenger when the gun was fired without a critical part being fitted after servicing. Hot gases discharged backwards, igniting explosive charges, killing Corporals Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson, of the Royal Tank Regiment.

Two men died after a blast in a Challenger when the gun was fired without a critical part being fitted after servicing. Hot gases discharged backwards, igniting explosive charges, killing Corporals Matthew Hatfield (left) and Darren Neilson, (right, with his wife Jemma) of the Royal Tank Regiment

A service inquiry report into the accident at Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire, on June 14, 2017, found a fail-safe in the original gun design dating back to 1984 had been altered and such an accident ‘could have occurred at any time in the CR2’s service history.’

The fail-safe was supposed to mean it could not be fired without the presence of a key part, a BVA (Bolt Vent Axial), to prevent gases escaping backwards. 

The report identified the design of the gun – subject of safety reviews in 1989 and 1994 – as a ‘causal factor’. At an inquest in 2018, Coroner Louise Hunt said the ‘production and manufacture of the gun did not adequately assess this risk’.

The MoD said ‘significant work’ has taken place including mechanical changes to the gun.