The British Army failed a ‘vulnerable’ cadet who died by suicide, a damning report found.
A Service Inquiry Panel into the death of Olivia Perks found a culture of alochol and affairs at the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Ms Perks, 21, killed herself at the Berkshire training academy in February 2019 – and the many flings taking place there were counted by Ministry of Defence officials as a factor in her death.
Of the 30 trainees in her platoon, five were believed to be having flings with senior colleagues between 2018 and 2019 while 14 others took place between staff and other platoons.
Among them was Ms Perks, with panellists understanding she had an affair with a member of the Physical Training staff.
The more than 300-page report detailed how many of the relationships involved senior male instructors and the female cadets they supervised.
This was a well-known secret among officer cadets, the report noted, but was not known among the chain of command.
The report said: ‘This behaviour undermined the [chain of command] and was completely unacceptable within a training establishment, the rules and guidance in place at RMAS are designed to safeguard [cadets] and staff alike.
‘The panel are of the opinion that more than one relationship and numerous examples of inappropriate behaviour occurred within this intake. This adequately demonstrates that the staff were prepared to take the risk and contravene the rules and regulations.’
‘During 2018, 19 relationships occurred between staff and cadets. Other examples of inappropriate behaviour included a colour sergeant [instructor] boasting on parade of sexual relations with an officer cadet on the night of their commissioning.’
Panellists said that within the walls of Sandhurst, there was a ‘complete misunderstanding of values’, with academy alcohol policy rarely enforced and a ‘culture of staff fraternisation’.
Ms Perks, from Kingswinford, West Midlands, received little to no support when she committed deliberate self-harm while ‘heavily intoxicated’ on the morning of July 17, 2018, when she was off the facility.
A witness said: ‘I considered this to be a serious suicide attempt. I believe if I left her in the room unattended that night [Ms Perks] would have killed herself.’
Ms Perks said in a wrenching letter that her troubled behaviour was down to a ‘combination of alcohol and past events in my life’.
Yet panellists found she received threadbare support from army officials. The past events in her life were not investigated and she wasn’t offered counselling either.
The Department of Community Mental Health and senior officials signed her off as ‘fit to return to training’ on the day of her suicide attempt.
Ms Perks was registered on the Vulnerability Risk Management system and the College Risk Register and a Care Action Plan was created.
When Ms Perks and other office cadets returned to Sandhurst, the panel said it was ‘ reasonable to assume that the seriousness of the various elements of self harm would have been known immediately’ by the chain of command.
Panellists found it was anything but. While panelists believe an investigation was launched, Ms Perks recieved ‘substandard management and support’.
Several months later and two nights before her death, Ms Perks ‘drank to excess’ and awoke in the bed of an instructor.
She admitted to the chain of command why she failed to return to the barracks, prompting an investigation and leaving her fearful she would be discharged.
Staff raised the alarm over Ms Perks when she did not show up for a skill training session the following day.
She was found ‘unresponsive’ in her room before medical officers pronounced her dead at the scene.
Ms Perks was just two weeks away from completing her 44-week course.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, said: ‘We all feel Olivia’s loss deeply, but none more so than those closest to her.
‘I hope that they are able to draw some small comfort from knowing that this report will reinforce action across the whole of the British Army.
‘Significant changes have already been made to improve Sandhurst’s culture, however, we will learn the lessons from this inquiry. We owe it to Olivia’s memory to do so.’
A statement released on behalf of Ms Perks’ family said: ‘Nothing can compare to the pain my clients have experienced and continue to live with having lost Olivia.
‘They welcome any inquiry by the MoD which may shed more light on Olivia’s death, but still have a number of concerns and questions that they hope will be addressed as part of the inquest process.’
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