Crown Censure issued after death of Royal Marine recruit

The Royal Marines was ordered to improve its training safety methods after the death of 20-year-old Ethan Jones in training

The Ministry of Defence has been issued a Crown Censure after a 20-year-old marine recruit died during exercise.

Ethan Jones drowned while taking part in an exercise of a night beach landing at Tregantle beach, Cornwall, in 2020.

The censure was issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated the incident.

A Crown Censure is a way in which HSE formally records the decision that a Crown body failed to comply with health and safety laws.

It said as part of the recruits' final training, they "took part in an exercise which included disembarking from a landing craft into the sea and wading to shore".

Recruit Jones, of Radstock, Somerset, was found "floating next to the landing craft" after the depth of water was deeper than anticipated, with a number of recruits submerged and having to be rescued.

"HSE found the MoD failed to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, failed to properly plan, failed to properly supervise, and therefore failed to ensure the safety of their employees during what should have been a routine training exercise," it said.

The Royal Marines were ordered by a military safety watchdog to check the depth of water before disembarkation training, and to improve its training safety methods.

The MoD admitted to breaching its duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act by accepting the Crown Censure.