The parents of a missing soldier have said the failure of the Army to notice he was not on base for two weeks had “potentially” cost their son his life.
L/Cpl Ryan Rudd, 28, was last seen in the early hours of 15 February on a night out at the New Inn in Selby and did not return to his barracks at Catterick Garrison.
However, Ken and Kerstin Rudd, from Pocklington, said the first they knew of the situation was when they received a phone call on 1 March from a senior officer asking if he was at home and said the two-week gap had hindered any chance of finding their son.
The Army said an investigation was under way and it was working with North Yorkshire Police.
Ken Rudd said he had told the officer who rang they had assumed their son was back on camp as normal.
He said shortly afterwards they called again to confirm he was not on camp and they were contacting the police.
“It was awful,” said Kerstin Rudd.
“The fact that nobody had noticed he was missing for two weeks. It was shocking, we couldn’t believe it was happening.”
