The head of the Army today apologised to the family of a soldier killed by a defective vehicle – after accepting a formal reprimand for health and safety failings.
Private Jethro Watson-Pickering, 23, died of catastrophic head injuries while driving a Scimitar light tank in a training exercise on Salisbury Plain five years ago.
Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker said: 'We failed him and those who loved him.'
The fault-prone gun barrel of Pte Watson-Pickering's vehicle collided with a tree while he was driving 'head-up' – sending it into a 'violent rotation' towards the soldier, of First Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.
Two other soldiers were seriously injured.
A damning investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was 'no safe system' of driving the vehicle after earlier modifications had created a risk of the gun barrel colliding with the driver's head.
This afternoon, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) accepted a Crown Censure from the HSE over the tragedy. It is the highest sanction available against the MoD, which cannot be prosecuted for health and safety breaches.
The sanction was given at Army Headquarters at Andover, in front of Pte Watson-Pickering's family including his mother, Moira Watson-Pickering – who received a formal apology from Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker.
Jethro Watson-Pickering, 23, was driving a badly maintained Scimitar when its gun barrel hit a tree, the turret spinning unexpectedly and hitting him
He said: 'We failed to properly assess and control the risks, failed in our training and instruction, and failed to provide a safe vehicle. Jethro should never have died.'
General Walker said his thoughts were 'first and foremost with Jethro Watson-Pickering's family and friends' and offered his 'sincere condolences'.
He added: 'I am deeply sorry for their loss and for the Army's failings that contributed to his death.
'We have made significant changes to prevent such a tragedy happening again. But no change can undo what happened.'
Ms Moira Watson-Pickering, a mother-of-four, is campaigning to ensure no other soldiers lose their lives in training incidents.
She previously told the Daily Mail: 'We give them our most precious possession, our sons and daughters, who want to serve the country they love.
Jethro's mother Moira Watson-Pickering has received a formal apology from the Army
The Scimitar armoured vehicle, pictured in on a training exercise, was withdrawn in 2023
'All we want is for them to be safe while learning the job. Is it too much to ask?'
HSE inspector Emma O'Hara said today: 'The MoD has a responsibility to take all reasonably practicable steps to control the risks to the safety of its employees. It failed to do so, which has cost a young man his life.
'Training exercises must be properly planned, with risks identified and mitigated, to prevent future tragic incidents like this one.'
Soldiers driving the Scimitar were in danger of collision with the turret after it was widened to accommodate storage for extra onboard equipment, an earlier report found.
Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker, has formally apologised to the family of Pte Watson-Pickering
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 Pte Watson-Pickering on October 15, 2021.
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.
An internal military report published in 2022 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'.
The HSE found risk assessments after the earlier incidents 'were not properly reviewed', while 'instruction and training were also inadequate, particularly on the risk of the turret rotating unintentionally'.
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An inquest into Pte Watson-Pickering's death has been adjourned. The MoD has accepted all service inquiry recommendations and instructed soldiers not to drive 'head-up' before the tank was withdrawn from UK service in 2023.
In 2024, the Daily Mail revealed Pte Watson-Pickering, from Boosbeck, near Redcar, Teesside, was one of five soldiers who died in four incidents involving faulty vehicles with known defects which had not been rectified.
The tragedies, between 2017 and 2022, involved the Challenger II tank, Warrior and Jackal armoured vehicles, as well as the Scimitar.
Service inquiry reports – internal MoD inquiries into deaths or serious incidents – into the tragedies identified almost 300 failings and made 227 recommendations.
The MoD accepted a previous Crown Censure over the death of SSgt John McKelvie, killed by the faulty Jackal in 2019. His family were also given an apology by General Walker.
Meanwhile an inquest into the death of Second Lieutenant Max George, killed in an accident involving the Warrior in 2022, is ongoing at Salisbury Coroner's Court.
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