A Royal Navy officer collapsed and died just minutes into a 'feared' physical fitness test after staff failed to check his medical questionnaire - despite his complaints of chest pains and high blood pressure, a coroner said. Decorated Acting Petty Officer Ian Fleming died from a cardiac episode on the first day of a four-week leadership programme which he believed he had to take or his pay could be slashed.
The 53-year-old, who was a smoker and had heart disease, collapsed 'in the early stages' of a jogging exercise at HMS Collingwood, in Fareham, Hampshire, after the Navy 'missed opportunities' to prevent his death. The serviceman had been so 'anxious' about the ‘mentally and physically challenging' course that he had been 'suffering panic attacks', the inquest heard.
At the conclusion of the four-day inquest, area coroner Mrs Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said: “The most striking aspect of the evidence from many witnesses was the fear engendered by the arduous training element which formed a significant, many felt excessive, part of the Senior Rates Leadership Course. For Ian Fleming, it was more than fear.
