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Western Telegraph
19-06-2025
- Western Telegraph
Army's delay in finding soldier's body in barracks ‘unforgivable'
Father-of-three Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan's decomposing body was discovered on January 23 2020 in his bedroom at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. An inquest at North Yorkshire Coroner's Court heard the 33-year-old's medical cause of death was 'unascertained' as decomposition made it difficult for doctors to determine. On Thursday senior coroner Jon Heath said it was 'not possible to determine' whether L/Cpl Mongan died from suicide or natural causes and recorded an open conclusion. The conclusion said there was nothing found at the scene or in the post-mortem examination to explain how he died, adding: 'The cause of death is unascertained and it is not possible to determine how he came by his death.' L/Cpl Mongan's widow Beth Mongan, who was separated from him at the time of his death, said the conclusion was 'an enormous disappointment' and that he was 'very badly let down by the Army'. The inquest heard L/Cpl Mongan had complained of being bullied by senior officers and that five junior soldiers and two senior non-commissioned officers had informed the chain of command that he was being treated differently. Former corporal Stephen Timmerman said 'bullying would be an understatement' as he described how L/Cpl Mongan was 'shouted, screamed and swore at', made to clean senior officers' cars in his own time and 'forced' to do extra runs in his lunch break without being given time to eat. Three other witnesses said he was 'spoken to in a despicable manner,' '100% victimised' and 'never spoken to respectfully'. Mr Heath said in his findings following the inquest that L/Cpl Mongan was 'on occasions treated and spoken to by his chain of command in a way that caused him distress'. The coroner said L/Cpl Mongan was not checked on in his accommodation block over the Christmas period, and had been due to start a deployment with 77 Brigade in January, but was not reported absent by them 'as he should have been' from January 7. The Centre for Military Justice, which represents Ms Mongan, said the last person to speak to L/Cpl Mongan in the early hours of January 2 described him as distressed, crying and drunk. They said: 'Bernie was supposed to be checked on over the Christmas period while he was staying alone in his Army accommodation – astonishingly one of the men Bernie had accused of mistreating him was assigned to do those checks and he admitted at this inquest that he did not perform a single one of them. For that failure, he was ordered to perform an 'extra duty' as punishment.' The inquest heard he had attempted to kill himself several years earlier when his marriage was breaking down. In the days before he was last seen in January 2020 he gave away his Nintendo to a friend's son, told another friend he 'had bought pills but not taken them' and made two donations to a suicide charity. Mr Heath said: 'However I also find his previous attempt to take his own life was caused by feeling he was not going to see his children again – this was not the case at this time.' He also said L/Cpl Mongan was looking forward to his new deployment and had made a list of 'things to do in 2020″ on a post-it note which was found in his room. The inquest heard the two most likely causes of death were considered to be self-inflicted poisoning, after barbiturates were found in L/Cpl's system – one of which was bought illegally – or a sudden abnormality of the heart, but a Home Office pathologist told the inquest he could not say which of these was the most likely. Dr Nigel Cooper said: 'I've thought about this long and hard but I just don't think I can, I don't think I have enough positive evidence to go in one direction or the other.' Speaking after the inquest, Beth Mongan said: 'I was expecting (the open conclusion), mainly due to the Army's failure of leaving him for so long but I've come to my own conclusions over the years. It's hard not having it for the kids.' She told reporters: 'Knowing Bernie, and he did suffer with his mental health over the years and his treatment in the Army, I believe he took his own life. 'I believe (the Army) failed him, they didn't investigate the bullying accusations they way they should have done.' Ms Mongan said the fact that L/Cpl Mongan was undiscovered for three weeks on a military site was 'unforgivable,' adding: 'I know they've apologised but that doesn't take away the fact that they failed him on that front. It forever will be unforgivable.'
Metro
03-06-2025
- Health
- Metro
Soldier was 'degraded' by superior officers before being found dead in barracks
A British soldier was 'humiliated' and 'degraded' by superior officers before he was found dead in his barracks, an inquest has heard. Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan's decomposing body was found in his bedroom at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, on January 23, 2020 – three weeks after he was last seen. An inquest at North Yorkshire Coroner's Court has heard his cause of death is still 'unascertained' as decomposition made it difficult for doctors to determine. One of L/Cpl Mongan's friends, former corporal Stephen Timmerman, told the hearing his friend 'wasn't treated the same' as other soldiers in their squadron. He told the hearing: 'They spoke to Bernie as if he was inconsequential,' adding that he had been spoken to 'like a piece of shit' and 'degraded'. Mr Timmerman described L/Cpl Mongan, 33, as a 'cuddly teddy bear' who may have been a 'soft target' because he was 'a nice guy who took things easier'. He told the inquest L/Cpl Mongan had issues with two sergeants and was 'undermined' and 'come down on very harshly', saying he had been considering a service complaint. Asked if he was bullied, Mr Timmerman said: 'I would say that was an understatement.' He said: 'He was given tasks that he shouldn't have been given, and just the general way he was spoken to by higher ranks. 'His seniors, quite a few times, he would be left to do their work for them in his own time.' Mr Timmerman said he could remember three occasions when L/Cpl Mongan was given a military Land Rover to clean that was not his. He said that on a military exercise around three months before his death, L/Cpl Mongan was 'shouted and screamed at' in front of other soldiers by his own superior officers in his own department for carrying out an order from another department. Mr Timmerman, who has since retired from the Army, said: 'It was very aggressive, very abrupt, some swearing … It was very harsh language and it wasn't his fault, he was carrying out an order he was told to do.' Asked if he was aware one officer 'had been posting videos on a WhatsApp group of humiliations of Bernie', Mr Timmerman said: 'I didn't know about that.' The hearing was told L/Cpl Mongan had separated from his wife and spent Christmas at another soldier's house. L/Cpl Mongan had tried to kill himself several times and spent time at a recovery centre run by Help For Heroes, the court heard. More Trending Former Royal Marine Jules Burnard, who struck up a friendship with him when they met at the facility, said he had last seen L/Cpl Mongan on January 1, 2020, and that he had been 'very positive' and looking forward to the detachment. Mr Burnard said L/Cpl Mongan had opened up to him about being bullied, and how that had affected his mental health. He told the hearing: 'He was a loveable, likeable, upbeat person. There was nothing not to like about Bernie.' The inquest, which is scheduled to last for three weeks, continues. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: I'd enlist to fight in a war – even as a 'woke' millennial MORE: Police officer died 'after being struck by train while helping man on railway' MORE: Deaf woman, 25, who took her own life was 'failed' by mental health services
BBC News
18-02-2025
- BBC News
Burnsall: Man died in 12ft of water while swimming in river
A father-of-one drowned while enjoying a riverside picnic with his family, an inquest has Mohmed Chanda, 33, disappeared while playing in an inflatable dinghy with relatives on the River Wharfe at Burnsall in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on 11 Yorkshire Coroner's Court was told on Tuesday that 1,000 people were in the vicinity enjoying a family fun day on one of the hottest days of the summer.A firefighter who was one of the first at the scene said the depth of the river could vary from knee-high to 12ft (3.36m) and that Mr Chanda's body was recovered from the latter section. Mr Chanda and his wife Shezmeen Khalid Munshi had been visiting the area from Blackburn with their family when he got into difficulty, the inquest was said her husband had been "extremely happy" before entering the water, was fit and healthy and had learned to swim the previous Munshi said she felt "uneasy" when she saw the boat he had got into with his cousin and nephew return to the bank without him, and alerted emergency Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service crew manager Benjamin Rymer told the hearing that 15 firefighters had been called to the incident. The Yorkshire Air Ambulance also landed. A witness statement read out to the inquest detailed how a "splash and a shout for help" had been heard before other swimmers tried to rescue Mr Rymer said the fire service had arrived within 10 minutes of the 999 call being made and they located Mr Chanda's body on the opposite side of the river from where he had entered the water.A postmortem established the cause of death as asphyxiation due to immersion in coroner Jonathan Leach recorded a conclusion of death by misadventure and said there were no suspicious to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
