Soldier took her own life after fight with colleague, inquest told

A soldier took her own life while fearing a fight with a colleague would cost her a promotion, an inquest has been told.

Royal Artillery Bombardier Nadine Askew, from Sunderland, was found dead in her room at Larkhill Garrison in Wiltshire on 22 July 2021.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court heard earlier that the 31-year-old had been involved in a dispute with a fellow soldier during a party the evening before she was found dead.

Her mother Amanda Askew and stepfather Malcolm Johnston said in a statement read to the inquest their daughter’s death was a “shock” and added that they “always saw her full of life and happy”.

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The court heard a party took place at Larkhill after several soldiers, including Bombardier Askew, had been socialising at a nearby pub.

Bombardier Lucy Clark told the inquest a fight broke out after a gunner approached Bombardier Askew to apologise for something he had done earlier in the day.

“She didn’t want to hear it, but he kept persisting,” said Bombardier Clark. “She jumped up from the bench and went for him effectively, and a fight broke out between the two.”

After punches were thrown, another soldier grabbed Bombardier Askew and restrained her before pulling her away from the confrontation.

Bombardier Clark said her friend was worried the fight would cost her a forthcoming promotion to sergeant.

“I know she was fully aware of the repercussions,” she told the inquest.

“A lot of the time the repercussion for fighting is a demotion and she wasn’t wearing sergeant yet, so the fear was a demotion in general, but she would have potentially been busted back down to lance bombardier.”

Referring to conversations they had about what the fight could mean for her friend’s career, Bombardier Clark said: “I was concerned about how she was going to cope if she was to get demoted or a promotion ban.”

She told the court she had no concerns about Bombardier Askew self-harming and described her death as “one of the biggest shocks” of her life.

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Bombardier Askew, who had served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, had been placed on the vulnerability risk management register and received mental health support following previous incidents of self-harm, the inquest heard.

In their statement, Bombardier Askew’s parents said they had no knowledge of her struggles with mental health and said she “lived for today”.

“Mentally we didn’t suspect any issues,” Ms Askew and Mr Johnston said, adding they had since learned their daughter had previously attempted suicide.

“We had no idea about this, and it came as a complete shock,” they added.

They said they had “noticed no changes in her mental or physical health” or any change in her personality in the lead-up to her death.

“We knew she was trying hard to get promoted, and have since learned that the fight she was involved in on the night she died might have affected her chances of being promoted,” they added.

“We didn’t think that would have affected her too much because she previously lost her rank because of a fight after an incident in Germany when she was about 20 and she had been demoted to lance bombardier.”

The inquest before area coroner Ian Singleton continues.