Death of Bernard Mongan
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Lance Corporal Bernard Mongan, often called Bernie, was a British soldier serving with the Royal Signals, who in 2020 aged 33 was found dead in Catterick Garrison barracks.[1]
Assault
Bernard Mongan, was born in Bristol, England, though he spent most of his childhood in Ireland and there developed a "soft southern Irish accent" according to the newspaper IrishCentral.[2] He joined the British Army's Irish Guards in 2004 and fought in the Iraq War, leaving the British Army in 2012 only to rejoin in 2015 with the Royal Corps of Signals.[2] He had three children with his wife Beth who he had separated from, though they remained on friendly terms.[3]
During his time in the army, Mongan was allegedly repeatedly bullied by fellow soldiers and senior officers, and shortly before his death had begun keeping records of his "perceived mistreatment" including issues with two sergeants against which he considered lodging a formal service complaint.[4][5] Incidents reported by colleagues at a 2025 inquest included: Mongan had been screamed at by superior officers in front of other soldiers while on military exercises, made to clean officers' cars in his own time, and been "forced" to do extra runs in his lunch breaks without being given time to eat after failing a fitness test – going against the army's policy that 'Physical exercise is not allowed to be used in the British Army as a punishment'.[5][6][7] The BBC reported after his death that Mongan had tried to kill himself several times after the breakdown of his marriage, and spent time at a recovery centre run by Help For Heroes in 2016.[6][8]
Mongan was the victim of a serious assault at Catterick Garrison in 2018, with a police investigation into the events still ongoing at the time of his death.[3][9]
According to the mother of his children Beth, Mongan had been "violently assaulted by two soldiers from Northern Ireland in November 2018."[2] She went onto say, Mongan:
...had been bullied quite a bit over the last couple of years. He was beaten up and as far as I am aware it is being treated as a racist incident. There were several other occasions when he felt he was being treated unfairly by senior members of his battalion.[2]
Bella Innes, a veteran support worker who had personally known Mongan for a decade, commented on the attack:
Bernie was intensely bullied. He told me he was beaten up by two Irish Guardsmen because he had a southern Irish accent. He said they called him a terrorist, beat him to the ground and jumped on his head. His face was black and blue. I know he has been bullied a lot in the past.[2]