Army urged to stop giving out ceremonial daggers as gifts after murders

The Army has been urged to stop giving out weapons as retirement gifts after a veteran used a ceremonial dagger to murder his neighbours.

Collin Reeves killed Stephen Chapple, 36, and wife Jennifer, 33, in 2021 after a long-running parking dispute.

The dagger had been handed to Reeves when he retired from the British Army.

Senior Somerset Coroner Samantha Marsh has written to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urging him to consider the "appropriateness" of such gifts.

"The dagger was not a blunt replica, it was a fully functional weapon capable of causing significant harm, injury and, sadly, in the Chapples' case, death," she wrote in a prevention of future deaths report.

"Please reconsider the appropriateness of providing anyone leaving the British Army, regardless of rank or status, with what is to all intents and purposes a deadly weapon.

"Such presentation/gifting has essentially put a deadly weapon in the community where I understand it sadly remains, having never been recovered as it was removed from the scene prior to police attendance, and I am not persuaded that this is appropriate."

Reeves, an ex-Royal Engineer who served in Afghanistan, was jailed for life in June last year and ordered to serve at least 38 years after being convicted of the double murder in Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset.

Reeves called police just a few minutes after the killings to confess, but later denied murder, claiming he was guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

But two forensic psychiatrists found he was not suffering from psychosis or acute post-traumatic stress disorder, and diagnosed him with only mild to moderate depression.

On the night of the murders, Reeves was caught on a security camera climbing the fence separating his garden from the victims' garden, and entering through the back door.

The court heard that the Chapples and Reeves previously had a good relationship but it had deteriorated when Mrs Chapple learned to drive and bought a second car.

Rows over parking spaces escalated to the point that Reeves' wife Kayley and Mrs Chapple had told their friends they were anxious about bumping into each other on the school run.

The Defence Secretary has until April 25 to respond to the coroner's report.

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