Short-sighted soldier shot dead Welsh Guards sergeant, 35, during a training exercise because he thought he was a wooden target, inquiry finds
- Welsh Guards Sgt Gavin Hillier was shot and killed by soldier during an exercise
- Short-sighted soldier known as ‘Guardsman 1’ thought he was aiming at a target
- The soldier was originally denied entry into the army due to this poor vision
- Sgt Hillier, 35, was a father-of-two and was a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq
An Army sergeant was shot dead by a short-sighted soldier who thought he was aiming at a wooden target, a military inquiry has found.
Gavin Hillier, from the Welsh Guards, was killed during a night exercise on an Army rifle range in Pembrokeshire.
The father-of-two died almost instantly after the soldier, identified only as Guardsman 1, fired the fatal shot while not wearing glasses.
A Service Inquiry report has revealed the soldier’s vision was so poor he was initially refused entry into the Welsh Guards and was only subsequently allowed to join after being issued with corrective lenses and reassessed.
Gavin Hillier (pictured), 35, from the Welsh Guards, was killed during a night exercise on an Army rifle range in Pembrokeshire
The report stated that because of the rules of medical confidence, Army medics could not inform Guardsman 1’s chain of command that he needed to wear glasses. Instead, it adds, it was the guardsman’s responsibility to do so.
Sgt Hillier, 35, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was acting as a safety supervisor when he was killed in March last year. He had been wearing a high-visibility fluorescent yellow jacket and a red glowstick was strapped to the back of his helmet. He was also wearing body armour.
But the report makes clear the soldier who shot dead Sgt Hillier could not distinguish between him and a wooden training target.
The report adds that the guardsman’s uncorrected eyesight ‘meant that, to see the same level of detail as a normally-sighted person, he would need to be three times closer if using both eyes or six times closer using just their right eye’.
‘On the night of March 4, 2021, Guardsman 1 was not wearing corrective lenses and so his binocular vision would have seen Sgt Hillier, who was 143m away, in the same level of detail as someone with normal vision would have seen him at 429m,’ said the report. ‘With their right eye (the eye used to aim and fire the rifle) this would have increased to 858m.’
Guardsman 1 had been in the Army for 18 months but was relatively inexperienced in live-firing attacks on battle ranges.
The report says there were 14 factors that led to Sgt Hillier’s death and makes 20 recommendations to prevent a similar accident taking place again. The Health and Safety Executive is also carrying out an investigation.
An inquest has been opened and adjourned into the death of Sgt Hillier, from Abertillery, Gwent, and Dyfed-Powys Police have opened a criminal inquiry but no arrests have been made. Sgt Hillier’s widow, Karyn, has seen the Service Inquiry report but said it was too soon to comment on it.
Previous incidents at the Castlemartin range (pictured) have claimed the lives of soldiers
Following her husband’s death, she and sons Declan and Connor released a statement saying: ‘I thank you for the day you came into my life and made me your wife and became the father to our two beautiful boys.
‘We are absolutely heartbroken and can’t express how proud we are of you. Our boys will continue to make you proud and you will forever live on through them.
‘Daddy, we are not ready to say goodbye just yet so until we meet again, we love you always. Love, your heartbroken wife and boys.’
The Ministry of Defence has declined to reveal what has happened to Guardsman 1. A spokesman for the Army said: ‘Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the family and friends of Sergeant Gavin Hillier at this sad time. We are supporting the ongoing investigation into the incident which is being led by Dyfed-Powys Police, so it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
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