Nigel Edwards KC conducted the inquest for the wife of Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan.

Nigel Edwards KC conducted the inquest for the wife of Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan, a father-of-three, whose body was found in his single living accommodation room at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire on 23 January 2020, having laid undiscovered for up to three weeks.

Nobody noticed L/Cpl Bernard Mongan “Bernie” was missing from work as he was left in his room for three weeks. It remains astonishing that no one in the Army noticed he was missing. The Army has rightly accepted and apologised for the serious failings that enabled this to happen. Bernie was left for so long it has not been possible for the Coroner to determine a cause of death, which is very hard for his family to come to terms with.

However, his then wife Beth Mongan sat in court and listened to and read all the evidence for herself.  Beth is able to come to her own view, knowing Bernie, about what happened to him. Bernie told his wife that he was being bullied and his friends and colleagues attended court to give evidence about that – one soldier described the way Bernie was spoken to as ‘degrading’ and another said that his friend’s treatment had been ‘despicable’. The Coroner found as a fact that Bernie was subjected to treatment and was spoken to in a manner that caused him distress. The Army accepted that these allegations were not investigated properly.

Bernie was supposed to be checked on over the Christmas period while he was staying alone in his Army accommodation – 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.

It is to be acknowledged that the Coroner’s findings were there was evidence heard at the inquest that Bernie was looking forward to the future and feeling positive because he was moving away from the unit where he was so unhappy. The family also note that there were individuals in his workplace who were very kind and supportive to Bernie and they want to acknowledge those people in particular and thank them for their help and friendship to Bernie.

For the family, there will always remain unanswered questions and the open verdict is an enormous disappointment.  Beth Mongan’s view is that Bernie took his own life and that he was very badly let down by the Army, an institution to which he had committed so many years of his life.

Beth Mongan was represented by Emma Norton, Consultant Solicitor for Hodge, Jones & Allen Solicitors and Director of the Centre for Military Justice and Nigel Edwards KC of Crown Chambers.

To instruct Nigel Edwards KC, call 01482 014658 or email his clerk at clerks@crown-chambers.com