The army missed opportunities to prevent the death of a “positive and bubbly” officer cadet who killed herself at Sandhurst military academy, a coroner has found.
Olivia Perks, 21, fell victim to a “complete breakdown in welfare support” during her time at the academy, the 16-day inquest at Reading town hall heard. She was found in her room at Sandhurst on 6 February 2019.
The coroner Alison McCormick recorded a conclusion of suicide, with the medical cause of death recorded as asphyxia due to hanging.
She said the army missed an opportunity to get Perks seen by a doctor following the cadet’s attendance at the Falklands ball on 1 February 2019, after which she had slept in a colour sergeant’s room.
“There was a missed opportunity by the chain of command to recognise the risk which the stress of her situation [after the ball] posed to Olivia and a medical assessment should have been, but was not, requested,” the coroner said.
“It is not possible to know what the outcome would have been had a medical assessment taken place, but it is possible that measures would have been put in place which could have prevented Olivia’s death.”
McCormick said the fact stress was a factor that placed Perks at higher risk was also not passed on to the chain of command at Sandhurst after her first term, meaning it was less likely to believe that getting her seen for medical attention was necessary.
The inquest had heard Perks tried to kill herself during a Royal Engineers visit in July 2018 but was deemed at “low risk of reoccurrence” afterwards.
She was back on duty two days later and warned she risked losing her place at the academy if she engaged in similar behaviour again.
Witnesses told the hearing that during the Royal Engineers visit, Perks had said she wanted to go in the sea, wanted to kill herself and asked for a belt and knife. She also tried to strangle herself.
She had been in a banned relationship with Mark Easingwood, a then staff sergeant who worked as a fitness instructor for cadets, in the months before she died.
Her friend Sophie Given told the hearing that Perks told her she “may be pregnant” with a staff sergeant’s baby. Easingwood told the hearing they “kissed once” and had “an emotional bond” but denied their relationship was sexual.
After the Falklands ball, she spent a night in CSgt Griffith’s room. The pair denied sexual activity had taken place, claiming Griffiths had invited her in to the room out of concern for her welfare and she had slept there. After she was seen leaving in her ball gown she was told “my office now” by the regimental sergeant major and later missed a parade.
In the days before Perks’ death, friends told the inquest she felt like she was “on trial” as the academy’s leaders questioned her about the incident and rumours about it spread on WhatsApp.
In a letter to her mother, which was found in Perks’ room when she died, the cadet said: “[I] just can’t deal with the false rumours which have ruined my army career.”
The army said it was “deeply sorry” for the failings. Outside the court, Sandhurst’s commandant, Maj Gen Zac Stenning, said: “Much more should and could have been done to support her. As an organisation we should have done better.”
Perks’ mother, Louise Townsend, said in a statement read outside court by her solicitor: “The last four years have been the hardest and most difficult journey we could have embarked upon: to lose our wonderful, vivacious and captivating girl, in circumstances which we now know were avoidable.
“We have been fighting for the truth of what really happened since she passed, and the story we were presented with at the start of this process by the Ministry of Defence was very different to the conclusion that has now been reached by the coroner.”
Townsend added that the family “truly” hoped the lessons learned would foster change to promote a “safe and positive environment” for all trainees at Sandhurst.
