Jungle expedition leaders rapped by inquiry. Judgment of Army officers was 'flawed'

''entirely fair''.

An Army board of inquiry found that Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Neill,

46, and his second-in-command, Major Ron Foster, a TA officer, had shown

''flawed'' judgment.

It commended three NCOs who took half the 10-man party to safety in

March and raised the alarm.

It dismissed allegations that Corporal Hugh Brittan, 24, and

Lance-Corporal Richard Mayfield had acted without authorisation, and

also praised the conduct of Lance-Corporal Cheung Yiu-keung.

In Hong Kong, Major-General Bryan Dutton, commander of British forces

there, said the expedition should never have gone ahead because three

Hong Kong Chinese soldiers in the party did not have enough abseiling

experience to descend a 5900ft drop in a remote mountain gully.

He told a news conference that Lt-Col Neill's leadership had been

found wanting. The expedition had been a goal Lt-Col Neill had

desperately wanted to achieve but ''what happened is he failed as a

leader''.

Lt-Col Neill described the inquiry as ''entirely fair''. A statement

issued by the Army on his behalf added: ''As organiser and leader of the

expedition, I accept full responsiblity for anything that went wrong.''

He described the three NCOs as ''very brave young men'' and said he

was pleased they had received commendations.

He concluded: ''I hope that the lessons learned from our experience

will benefit others in the future.''

The inquiry was convened by Major-General Patrick Cordingley,

commander of the Army's eastern district and Lt-Col Neill's senior

commander.

The Army said that no disciplinary action would be taken because no

crime had been committed. It described the findings as ''appropriate

administrative action''.

An Army source said that the two officers had ''failed to control the

situation on the ground'' and ''did not grip the problem''.

The inquiry found that the planning of the expedition had been

''thorough and professional''. It commended Lt-Col Neill for assembling

a mixed group of regular, territorial and Hong Kong Chinese soldiers.

But the board criticised Lt-Col Neill's judgment and leadership during

parts of the expedition. The decision to take the less experienced

members into the gully had been ''over-ambitious,'' Maj-Gen Cordingley

said.

When five of the expedition descended the gully, on Mount Kinabalu, to

alert the rescue services, Lt-Col Neill and Major Foster stayed with

three inexperienced Hong Kong Chinese soldiers.

Lt-Col Neill became ill with altitude sickness and Major Foster took

command. Maj-Gen Cordingley said the board found that some of Major

Foster's decisions during this period, while completely in line with the

overall plan, ''subsequently contributed to the situation of jeopardy

which developed''.

Accusations that the party which broke away had moved without

authorisation were dismissed.

The Army said there was no evidence to support disciplinary action

against Cpl Brittan and L/Cpl Mayfield. Indeed their conduct, and that

of L/Cpl Cheung, merited recognition.

A serious flaw had been the failure to equip the party with

communications equipment. Radios had been ruled out because they would

not operate in the deep gully. Flares and smoke could not have been

carried on civilian aircraft.

However, Lt-Col Neill, a Royal Logistic Corps officer, was unaware

that locator beacons were available for emergency use and had not

applied for them.

Nor had the leaders organised enough training, particularly for

abseiling into the deep gully. After a review it had been decided to

introduce a new system to make sure those supervising abseiling were

adequately qualified.

Lt-Col Neill and Major Foster were both interviewed by the

major-general and told of the findings. Lt-Col Neill's promotion

prospects are now at an end, according to Army sources.

The two men are to tell their story in a book to be published in March

next year.