Psychiatrist ‘got it wrong’ in judging corporal suicide risk

Cpl Alexander Tostevin served with the Poole-based Special Boat Service (SBS)

A Royal Navy psychiatrist admitted he "got it wrong" in assessing the suicide risk posed by a special forces soldier days before he killed himself.

Cpl Alexander Tostevin, 28, who served with the Poole-based Special Boat Service (SBS), was found dead at his home in March 2018.

Surgeon Capt John Sharpley met Cpl Alexander Tostevin to assess him four days before his death.

Capt Sharpley drew up a care plan for him but it was not carried out.

It involved a family friend staying with him at his flat in Poole, but the friend returned to London three days before his death.

Cpl Tostevin was facing a disciplinary hearing for buying cocaine and hiring a prostitute on a military credit card in September 2017 and was receiving support from a welfare officer.

Capt Sharpley said discussions with Cpl Tostevin led him to believe that he did not need to be hospitalised.

Dorset Coroner's Court heard that after Cpl Tostevin died, the surgeon met his family.

Kirsten Heaven, counsel for the Tostevin family, said: "Did you say to the family you had got it wrong?"

Capt Sharpley replied: "I think I might have done. I made a judgment that he was fit to go home with various interventions in place. I got that wrong."

Ms Heaven said: "So you are not saying that with the benefit of hindsight you got that wrong, you are saying you got that wrong?"

"I think it is with the benefit of hindsight," Capt Sharpley said.

The inquest heard earlier that a threat Cpl Tostevin made to take his own life was not passed down his chain of command.

The inquest continues.