A SCOTS sniper, who is believed to have fatally shot a soldier he thought was an insurgent digging in the road in Afghanistan, showed weak observation skills but was a competent marksman, an inquest heard.
Lance Corporal Malcolm Graham was described as having "very good marksmanship" by Colour Sergeant Kevin Currie, who took him through phase two of his sniper training, the hearing at Eastbourne Town Hall was told yesterday.
He said L/Cpl Graham passed all the tests and was a competent sniper but one of his weak points was observation skill.
Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, 22, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was killed by a gunshot wound to the ribcage which is believed to have been fired from a remote observation post, known as a sangar, by L/Cpl Graham, of 1st Battalion The Royal Scots Borderers.
L/Cpl Pritchard, who was on secondment with 4th Battalion The Rifles, was deployed to an observation post to watch a blind spot on an access road in the Sangin area of Helmand province on December 20, 2009. He was to make sure Taliban insurgents did not plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the court was told.
The court heard that, between 8pm and 9pm, Rifleman Jeffrey Stanley radioed his colleagues "about half a dozen times" to tell them warning shots were being fired "very close" to the observation post where he and L/Cpl Pritchard were stationed.
Howver, no-one heard the warnings as he was in a signal black spot and the transmissions did not reach the operations room. The next clear communication received by the control room was that rounds were coming close to the observation post and then "man down", East Sussex Coroner Alan Craze was told.
Captain Thomas Foulkes-Arnold, a lieutenant with 4 Rifles at the time, said he did not hear any of Rfl Stanley's transmissions while he was in the operations room.
He said the communications system was down for 20 minutes, if not longer, "to the point where we were thinking of sending a patrol to re-establish comms".
Rfl Stanley said the first two hours of the shift on the roof of the observation post were quiet, but at about 8.15pm he heard over the radio that the remote sangar could see people on the road. He said they could see 250 metres to the right of the post and were fairly sure there were no insurgents in the road so he passed this back on the radio.
The court was told the sky started to light up with illume, which Rfl Stanley felt left them exposed, and he heard over the radio that permission had been given to fire warning shots.
He said: "There were small bursts of automatic fire, possibly three rounds. They felt really close and I could feel them going over our heads.
"Me and L/Cpl Pritchard took cover. I felt these were not warning shots and communicated this over the radio."
Rfl Stanley was told they were warning shots and they had not been fired anywhere near them, the inquest heard.
He said more illume was sent into the air and he heard a single shot which sounded like a sniper rifle. He said this happened about five times.
Rfl Stanley said another three single shots were fired that left his ears ringing and he used the radio again to ask if they were warning shots.
Sergeant Syldred Decker appeared and Rfl Stanley explained what had been happening. He said: "All three of us were shoulder to shoulder, crouched down on our knees, keeping low."
He said another shot was fired and he heard the round hit L/Cpl Pritchard, who became unresponsive.
The inquest continues.
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