British paratrooper killed by explosion in Ukraine, coroner rules
A coroner has ruled that British paratrooper L/Cpl George Hooley died from injuries sustained in an explosion while assisting Ukrainian forces. The incident, which occurred in December 2025, is considered a tragic accident rather than a suspicious event.
Why it matters
The death marks a significant moment in the ongoing conflict, highlighting the presence of British military personnel in non-combat support roles within Ukraine.
Image source, Ministry of Defence Image caption, L/Cpl George Hooley with his dog Mabel
A British paratrooper was killed by an explosion while assisting Ukrainian troops in the war with Russia, a coroner has ruled.
An inquest, conducted partly in secret this week, into L/Cpl George Hooley's death found he had "sustained multiple injuries from an explosion" on 6 December 2025.
Hooley, 28, died from his injuries in a hospital in Kyiv three days later - the first British service member to die in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Darren Salter, senior coroner for Oxfordshire, said he had been provided with "limited evidence" about the circumstances and cause of the explosion but Hooley's death was "not suspicious".
The location of the explosion is also unknown, other than that it was away from the front line.
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