Soldier took own life after fight she feared would ruin promotion, inquest told

Royal Artillery Bombardier Nadine Askew, 31, was found dead in her room at Larkhill Garrison in Wiltshire on July 22, 2021.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court heard Bmdr Askew had got into a dispute with a fellow soldier, a gunner, during a party at an accommodation block the evening before.

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

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Lucy Clark, a fellow bombardier, agreed her friend had seen “red” and was worried the fight would cost her a forthcoming promotion to sergeant.

She told the inquest: “I know it was discussed in front of her and I can’t recall if she actually spoke on it. I know she was fully aware of the repercussions.

“She knew that getting into a fight and essentially hitting a gunner was going to have repercussions on her career.

“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 after the incident about what could happen to her future career prospects, Bmdr Clark said: “She did briefly touch upon it, we were speaking about it and she said, ‘I know’.

“I was concerned about how she was going to cope if she was to get demoted or a promotion ban.”

The witness said she had no concerns about Bmdr Askew self-harming.

Asked about her reaction to the death of her friend, Bmdr Clark replied: “It was one of the biggest shocks of my life.”

The inquest heard several soldiers, including Bmdr Askew, had been out socialising at a nearby pub and had returned to the garrison where a party took place.

Bmdr Clark said the fight had broken out after the gunner approached Bmdr Askew to apologise for something he had done earlier in the day.

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

“She shot up and went to go and grab him, she punched him, and then she got restrained and someone dragged her off, and someone dragged him away.

“She managed to headbutt him before he was dragged away fully out of there. There was a lot of shouting.”

The inquest heard Bmdr Askew’s cause of death was given as hanging.

There had been previous incidents of self-harm for which she had been placed on the vulnerability risk management register and received mental health support.

Her parents told the inquest they had no knowledge of her previous self-harm attempts or struggles with mental health.

Amanda Askew and stepfather Malcolm Johnston said in a written statement read to the inquest: “As far as we were aware, there was nothing in any of her relationships that would have been playing on her mind causing her distress in July 2021.

“She lived for today, she didn’t worry about money. As far as we were aware there would not have been any financial issues on her mind.

“Mentally we didn’t suspect any issues and always saw her full of life and happy. Since her death we have learned about some mental health issues she had experienced.

“Since her death we have learned that she attempted suicide before, but again, we had no idea about this, and it came as a complete shock.

“We noticed no changes in her mental or physical health, nor did we notice any change in her personality.

“In July 2021 she was looking forward to becoming a sergeant and moving to sergeants’ quarters on camp.

“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.

“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.”

Bmdr Askew, from Sunderland, had served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Royal Artillery.

The inquest before area coroner Ian Singleton continues.