Joshua Hoole's father calls for inquest to be re-opened

Cpl Hoole joined the Army in April 2008

The father of a soldier who died during an Army fitness test has asked for his son's inquest to be re-opened.

Cpl Joshua Hoole, 26, of Ecclefechan, near Lockerbie, died on 19 July 2016 while training for the Platoon Sergeants' Battle Course in Brecon.

A report concluded his death was an "unforeseen tragedy", but Cpl Hoole' father Phillip rejected the findings.

Mr Hoole said the report had left "more questions than answers".

Cpl Hoole collapsed while on pre-course training for the Platoon Sergeants' Battle Course.

He had 25kg (55lb) of equipment on when he collapsed 400m from the end of the eight-mile (13km) course.

A probe into the incident concluded the cause of his death was "within the definition of sudden arrhythmogenic death syndrome (SADS)" - a condition that affects the heart.

Cpl Hoole served in Iraq and Afghanistan

A panel found Cpl Hoole himself would not have known of his susceptibility to SADS and that it was reasonable for the Army not to have known about the problem.

While the Defence Safety Authority's Service Inquiry report made a number of recommendations for the future, it stressed none of the areas examined directly contributed to, or aggravated, the soldier's death.

In a statement released a day after the report was published, his father said he had written his own report, "which I have sent to the coroner respectfully asking for the inquest to be re-opened so that these questions can be answered and lessons learned".

He said he believed that "if the correct checks and balances for the safe conduct of an AFT (annual fitness test) had been followed; it should not have started and having started it should have been stopped on a number of occasions".

Joshua Hoole was fit and a medical examination had not flagged any issues

Cpl Hoole, a member of the Rifles regiment at ITC Catterick, was heard saying he was suffering from cramp just before collapsing.

An ambulance was called and a combat medical technician cleared his airways of a build-up of fluid and began CPR.

Army colleagues assisted treating Cpl Hoole until an ambulance arrived at 09:04, just over 10 minutes after he collapsed. He was pronounced dead at 09:39.