Pte Cowton died a hero, inquest told (From Andover Advertiser)

Pte Cowton died a hero, inquest told

1:20pm Tuesday 7th July 2009

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A PARATROOPER from north Hampshire was a hero who died despite the valiant efforts of his comrades to keep him alive under fire.

That was the judgement of a coroner at the inquest into the death of Private Peter Cowton, who died in Afghanistan on July 29 last year.

North East Hampshire Coroner’s Court heard that the 25-year-old paratrooper was first into a compound and was killed by injuries he suffered when a hidden device exploded in a trench.

Pte Cowton, whose family home is in Moat Close, Bramley, was part of a force of about 120 paratroopers who set off from a fort in Helmand province, known as FOB Gibraltar.

Major Adam Dawson, officer commanding C Bruneval Company, 2 Para, said their objective was to push the Taliban fighters back from a slightly-elevated area about a kilometre away, known as Hammer’s Head.

Major Dawson was in charge of the operation which involved platoons from the 2nd and 3rd battalions. He said the Hammer’s Head included about 50 residential buildings and compounds, but around it were maize fields in which Taliban fighters could easily hide.

He told the Basingstoke inquest: “You are in among the local population, trying to identify the Taliban and it is a difficult situation to deal with.”

Major Dawson said they all came under very intense fire as they approached the target area and once news of Pte Cowton’s injuries reached him, he said the operational priority was getting the casualty out safely.

He told the inquest that Pte Cowton was wearing body armour and the force was “extremely lucky” because besides highly-trained trauma medics, it also had a surgeon.

He said: “It’s my belief that everyone on the ground did as much as they could to facilitate the evacuation given the seriousness of the situation.”

Corporal Bob Lewis of 2 Para, section commander in 9 Platoon, described how Pte Cowton, the platoon’s lead scout, dived in a trench to use as a firing position, while others had to remain behind a wall. The enemy fire was the most intense he had known in more than four months of fighting, he said.

Pte Cowton moved down the trench to allow others to join him, including Cpl Lewis. “There was an explosion. It was very close – about a metre-and-a-half away and it blew me to the right,” Cpl Lewis said.

“I tried to look for Pte Cowton but there was a lot of sand particles and my vision was obscured. I first heard him, not in pain, but I heard him groan and straight away I shouted that there was a man down.”

Cpl Lewis described how tourniquets, morphine and a drip were applied to Pte Cowton, who was severely injured in his legs and arm. He was placed on a stretcher, and under rapid covering fire, his comrades pulled him from the trench. They continued to treat him until medics with 3 Para arrived.

Acting Sergeant Paul Knapp, who went forward to Pte Cowton, said: “We decided he would keep his eyes fixed on us so he would not be looking at his body.”

Once arrangements had been made to evacuate him by helicopter, soldiers in relays took Pte Cowton out of the compound and along a track to a pick-up point about 400 metres away.

“He was still very much with us and talking,” said Sgt Knapp. However, the Chinook helicopter pilot did not feel he could land safely because the Taliban had opened up on the landing site.

Pte Cowton was then carried further by heavily-laden troops, transferred to a quad-bike trailer and taken to FOB Gibraltar. From there. he was airlifted the 60 kilometres to Camp Bastion while under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s during take-off. He died during the flight.

Coroner Andrew Bradley said Pte Cowton had found himself in a position of incredible danger as lead scout. He said: “He volunteered to put himself in that position and all the soldiers deserve our undying admiration.”

He said Pte Cowton had effectively been killed by the explosion from the device which, a pathologist’s report revealed, had caused “catastrophic injuries” and blood loss.

He had been treated “in amazing fashion” by the parachute regiment medics. Mr Bradley added: “He wasn’t in the land of heroes, but it was heroic, what he did on July 29.”

Mr Bradley said his verdict was that Pte Cowton had died as a result of wounds received while on active service.

He told Pte Cowton’s family, who attended the inquest at the Civic Offices: “You can take great pride from that.”

He said there had been no shortcomings on the part of the army either in the theatre of war or in the presentation of the evidence.

At the conclusion of the inquest Pte Cowton’s brother Russell, 29, said he was “absolutely happy” with the verdict. He said: “We are incredibly thankful for the efforts of people on the day he died.”

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