Ex-wife of sailor who killed himself with rifle on warship slams Royal Navy for allowing her husband back on board

The ex-wife of a sailor who killed himself on a warship has criticised the Royal Navy for allowing him back on board when he was suffering from depression and facing a sex assault trial. Verity Wyng said she was also concerned about how weapons were being stored on board the ship. Her former husband Jon Errington Paxton, 38, took the keys for a weapons storage locker from the belt of a sleeping colleague before shooting himself dead on board the minehunter HMS Cattistock while it was docked in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in April 2023. An inquest into his death last week heard he was found in the shower on board the warship and recorded a verdict of suicide. The court heard he had been struggling with depression, had debts of £25,000 and had been arrested over a sexual assault allegation, which he denied. His divorce from Ms Wyng had also been finalised just two weeks before his death. Ms Wyng said he had been medically downgraded previously because of his mental health and questioned why he was allowed back on board again before his death.She said she had hoped to get answers for the couple's three children at the inquest last week but was not given the chance to raise her concerns with the Royal Navy and feels they have been let down. Petty Officer Jon Errington Paxton and his ex wife Verity on their wedding day in 2014 Jon Errington Paxton, 38, took the keys for a weapons storage locker from the belt of a sleeping colleague before shooting himself dead on board the minehunter HMS Cattistock while it was docked in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in April 2023.Petty Officer Paxton, originally from Arbroath in Scotland, joined the Navy when he was 19. He and Ms Wyng married in 2014.His death came 12 years after engineering technician Samuel 'Ricky' Hatton, 20, shot himself on the same warship at Portsmouth Naval Base. Ms Wyng said: 'Jon was clearly facing a great deal of anguish and stress at the time of his death. This would have been a very stressful time for him. 'He had been medically downgraded once previously why wasn’t this done at this point? Jon should have been taken off the ship until the sexual assault case against him was finalised. His managers knew he was very upset with the court proceedings.'She said a key for the ammunition locker should have also been kept more securely. 'It was left on his trousers within reach of not only Jon but anybody who entered that room. Why?' she said. 'There seems to be a lot of caution around signing weapons and ammunition in and out and the weapons being locked away, but I don’t understand why the keys are not locked away or signed over to somebody who can monitor them. 'I think this is something me and the children will always struggle with.'Had Jon not been on the ship at this time he would not have been able to do this. And if the keys had not been left out he would have not been able to do this. Both of these would have resulted in a potentially different outcome for Jon and our children.'The inquest into this was less than one hour and I feel majorly let down for the children. I really hoped there would be measures recommended to stop this happening again.'She added: 'I wish Jon had had the support he needed and this never happened as the effect on the children has been life changing.'The inquest at Portsmouth Coroner's Court heard PO Paxton had been accused of sexual assault following an incident at a bar in Arbroath. He had 'consumed a substantial quantity of alcohol'. He was arrested in December 2022 and had been charged while at home in Scotland on medical discharge. The inquest heard PO Paxton had pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charges but the trial had not yet taken place.PO Paxton's brother, Ross, said he had struggled with his marriage breakdown and had told him 'the one thing he couldn't live with was another man living in his own house with his kids'.His partner at the time, Clare Anderson, said that she 'worried' about PO Paxton because he had told her that he was in 'pain'.In a statement to the inquest, she said: 'He said that everybody was better off without him and that he couldn't live with the pain he was in.'Area Coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, Jason Pegg, concluded that PO Paxton had taken his own life.Mr Pegg ruled that the weapons had been securely stored and that the ammunition had been securely stored separately from the weapons.The Royal Navy was contacted for comment.