Sandhurst cadet found dead in car with shotgun
A talented officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was found dead in a car with a shotgun.
Edward Milner, aged in his early 20s, was found inside a car off a country road in West Sussex along with the gun on May 6.
Police had received reports of a car leaving the carriageway of the A286 near Midhurst, just 30 miles from Sandhurst.
He was confirmed dead at the scene and his death is not being treated as suspicious, police said.
Milner was about to start his final term at the military academy previously attended by Princes William and Harry.
He belonged to Sandhurst’s New College and was returning from a period of leave when his body was found, according to Mail Online.
Talented graduate
He is reported to have been an economics graduate who previously attended Cardiff University and Sherborne, public school in Dorset where fees are as high as £16,000 a term.
Milner is also said to have been a talented sportsman, having excelled at cricket and rugby while at Sherborne.
A file on his death was passed to the local coroner, who has opened and adjourned an inquest, where senior Army figures could be called to give evidence.
The Ministry of Defence told the Mail: “The circumstances surrounding his death are being looked into by the coroner and it would be inappropriate to comment any further.”
Milner’s death comes after another Sandhurst cadet, Olivia Perks, 21, took her own life in her bedroom at the Royal Military Academy.
A subsequent inquest found that the Army could have prevented her suicide had she been adequately safeguarded. Her parents called on the Army to ban the academy’s “toxic” drinking culture after the inquest revealed that Ms Perks had “drank to excess”.
