A soldier who killed himself at an army base in North Yorkshire had been traumatised and was never the same after tours of duty in Afghanistan, an inquest heard.
Angela Mackenzie, the aunt of L/Cpl Ryan Mackenzie, said after the first tour he “went into himself” and “could no longer deal with loud noises”.
His grandmother Margaret Allison said he told her that his best friend had been hanged by the Taliban. Another soldier had been captured and beheaded. She said his second deployment “messed him up” and that he made two suicide attempts after returning in 2014.
The inquest in Northallerton heard that Mackenzie had been on leave in the weeks leading up to his death last year. His colleagues believed he was returning on 23 August.
The assistant coroner, Jonathan Leach, said it was unclear when Mackenzie came back to the barracks at Catterick, but the condition of his body when he was found in a bathroom at the base suggested “he had returned some days prior to that”. He recorded a verdict of suicide.
Allison said of her grandson: “When he was staying with me he woke up at night screaming. He said he heard horrible voices in his head telling him to do things, and that he got flashbacks of his friends getting shot or mutilated.”
The family said Mackenzie had post-traumatic stress disorder, but the inquest heard he was never diagnosed.
Witnesses from the army said they had never been made aware of any suicide attempts by Mackenzie or any history of mental health issues.
Asked by the coroner about Mackenzie’s time in Afghanistan, Lt Col Alasdair Hempenstall of 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, said he had been “acquaintances and possibly friends” with a lance corporal on his first tour.
That soldier “went missing in pretty unfortunate circumstances. He was taken by the Taliban and there is evidence he was tortured,” he said. “Certainly that incident would have had a big impact on everyone in that location.”
Hempenstall said he had “found no significant events” from Mackenzie’s second tour, when he was at Camp Bastion.
Capt Philip Ingram, the welfare officer for Mackenzie’s unit, said a care action plan had been instigated for him by the army in May last year.
“Ryan had said to a friend while having a couple of drinks that he felt a little bit low and had considered suicide. His friend mulled it over for a while and passed it up the chain of command,” Ingram said.
He told the inquest that as part of the action plan, Mackenzie was formally reviewed on 19 May, 24 June, and 24 July, and that he spoke to him on several other occasions. Ingram said that during one of their meetings, Mackenzie told him about his daughter’s chronic illness and the breakdown of the relationship with his ex-wife.
Asked about Mackenzie’s mental health at the time, he said: “There were concerns but he was quite clear he wouldn’t do anything to take his life due to wanting to be a parent to his daughter. He was quite clear about that.”
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
