Royal Marine drowned during dive drill, inquest hears

Most of the inquest will be heard in secret at the Royal Courts of Justice

An "outstanding" Royal Marine drowned during a diving drill off the Dorset coast, an inquest has heard.

Benjamin McQueen, 26, died on a training exercise near Portland Harbour on 14 November 2018, the Royal Courts of Justice was told.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) previously found safety failures by the Ministry of Defence over the death.

Judge coroner Sir Ernest Ryder said most of the inquest would be heard in secret due to security concerns.

'Beloved son'

He said the inquest, listed for three weeks, would focus on answering how the Marine came to his death.

The Marine's father Colin McQueen paid tribute to his "beloved son", the middle of three brothers.

He told the inquest that "Ben lived life fearlessly", was a "natural soldier" and was "extremely well-liked and considerate".

Mr McQueen said his son also enjoyed playing the guitar, reading and discussing books with his mother Kathleen and "talked and occasionally wrote about the meaning of life".

Lt Col Alan Speedie said the signaller was an "outstanding Royal Marine".

In September 2020, the HSE issued a Crown Censure over the death, which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) accepted.

The censure is a record that the HSE found evidence which would have warranted a prosecution if the MoD had not been exempt.