A "kind and compassionate" young soldier tragically died after collapsing during a training exercise at a North Yorkshire garrison, an inquest has heard.

Private Josh Kennington, 18, died in Darlington Memorial Hospital on November 24, 2022, six days after collapsing during physical training at Catterick Garrison.  

An inquest at Crook Coroner’s Court heard that Josh had just finished a training exercise – a three-kilometre march with a pack that weighed around 11 kilograms – and was cooling down with friends when he suffered a cardiac arrest, falling forward and hitting his head hard on the ground.

Friends initially thought the fit young soldier had fainted, which the court was told “is not rare” in the military, but quickly realised that he had no pulse and had stopped breathing.

Josh’s medically trained colleagues performed CPR and used a defibrillator in an attempt to restart his heart. With the help of an ambulance crew, his pulse restarted, but Josh, whose "lifelong" dream has been to join the army,  never regained consciousness.

(Image: Ministry of Defence)

A post-mortem examination, by pathologist Dr Senadhira, found Josh died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome, hypoxic brain injury, and cardiac failure.

The inquest, heard by Senior Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield, was told that friends reported Josh had been suffering from a “chest infection” in the weeks before his death, and had been on a “downward spiral” of performance at physical training, not finishing a particularly challenging session.

But the day he died, he showed no signs of struggling with the physical exertion and was chatting throughout, planning a night out at the weekend with friends.

Witness Lieutenant Commander John-Paul Fitzgibbon, who was president of the panel that undertook investigations within the military, said that there was “no warning, no indication, and no words said before he stumbled forward and collapsed”.

He added: “Recently, he had made improvements to his lifestyle, cutting energy drink consumption and increasing his visits to the gym. There were no causal factors identified in his collapse – though I couldn’t discount his illness.”

The court also heard that there were problems with ambulance delays, as the Yorkshire Ambulance Service was receiving a high volume of calls, and operators were busy.

This meant that a third-party operator – from BT – initially picked up the emergency 999 call from Catterick Garrison, and only transferred it to a trained call handler when there was an indication that the incident was “critical”.

Lieutenant Commander Fitzgibbon said he believed there was a delay of almost four minutes, which he noted as an “aggravating factor” in Josh’s case.

He said: “A call was made at 9.06 am, but this didn’t get to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service until 9.10, and there was no ambulance allocated until 9.11.

“Though recommendations in the report are for the military, it might be prudent for BT to train operators to ask if an incident is critical, as a member of the public might not have the wherewithal to say that in that scenario.”

But consultant cardiologist Lieutenant Corporal Andrew Cox did not think that this delay had an impact on Josh’s death, due to “high quality” CPR and speed of defibrillation by his colleagues.

He added that Josh would not have suffered, saying: “He collapsed from standing and did not regain consciousness - his brain had been hypoxically damaged and would not recover.

“That was likely Josh’s last thought - he would not have felt anything or have suffered in any way.”

Josh’s family paid tribute to their “kind, compassionate” son.

Dad Simon Kennington, said: “Josh was a very happy and healthy child and adult. He was the youngest of three, and he wanted to be in the military since he was 11. It was his lifelong dream, and we were so proud of him.

“He loved the army and army life – he had never had any issues with the military or training, and he never said anything about training that gave us any cause for concern.

“Josh’s death was so tragic, and has been a huge loss for the family. We miss him so much. As a family, we’re hoping that the inquest concluding will let us get on with our grieving process.”

Josh was serving with the Royal Logistics Corps, but had dreams of becoming a parachutist. His organs – including his kidneys, pancreas, and liver, were donated for organ transplants.

The inquest continues.