Soldier felt he was told to 'man up' before death

An Army doctor has denied telling a soldier who later took his own life to “man up” when he sought help.

An inquest into the death of Nicholas Hart, 33, opened at North Yorkshire Coroner's Court on Monday. Mr Hart was found dead at the Catterick Garrison base in February 2022.

The serviceman, from Pontypridd in Wales, had a history of mental health problems and had been drinking heavily since the suicide of another soldier, Ryan Mackenzie, at the barracks six months earlier.

The inquest heard evidence from Colonel Simon Bloodworth, a medical officer who assessed Mr Hart but did not consider that the soldier "engaged with the available support".

Colonel Bloodworth said: “I don’t think Nicki took to talking therapy like a duck to water.

“He would shrug and say, ‘I don’t know’, so I had to ask very specific questions.”

He added he thought Mr Hart, who had been serving with the Royal Regiment of Scotland in a recruitment role, was “vulnerable, but not high risk” and so did not recommend an emergency appointment or an intervention.

Colonel Bloodworth also denied the claim from another witness, former soldier David Twiname, who was working in the same barracks at the time, who told the inquest earlier in the day that Mr Hart had effectively been told to “man up” while trying to get help.

Mr Twiname said: “I saw him every day, he was a good guy and like a brother.

“The death of Ryan had a pretty bad effect on Nicki and it led to him drinking more and you could tell he was not happy, so I made an effort to be with him more in his room as much as I could.

“When he tried to get help from our medical centre, he felt like he was basically told to ‘man up’ and be a soldier.”

However, Colonel Bloodworth later said in the hearing that he would “never have used the term ‘man up’ in a professional setting”, adding: “That statement is appalling and it infuriates me as I did not say it to him”.

Mr Twiname also described a diagram Mr Hart had shown him that outlined how he wanted to take his own life, but needed to get around certain obstacles, such as his friends.

He added he felt like his friend was “showing me that this was his mind and this was it, he wanted to die”.

Mr Hart’s wife, Sara, whom he has three children with, also told the inquest that following Mr Mackenzie’s death, he “was not the Nicki I knew” and was “not displaying emotions in the way he normally did”.

She also said she received a text message from him days before his death that said how the "the Army teaches you to suppress all your feelings and emotions".

Assistant coroner Jonathan Leach added that a toxicology report had found the amount of alcohol in Mr Hart's system would have put him at more than twice the legal drink drive limit when he died.

A Service Inquiry Report by the Ministry of Defence found that there were "missed opportunities" in the care Mr Hart received before he died.

The inquest also heard how he developed post-traumatic stress disorder following a tour of Afghanistan in 2012.

The inquest, which is expected to last for 10 days, continues.

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