Ciaran Macmillan has filed the Ciaran Macmillan Ministry Of Defence lawsuit in the High Court, seeking up to £500,000 after he says a May 2021 cliff jump at RAF Akrotiri left him permanently disabled. The claim says the former RAF soldier broke his back during an off-duty outing on British military land.
The case now moves into the High Court process, where judges will have to decide whether the Ministry of Defence owed him a duty of care for the jump. Macmillan says surgery left him with significant sensory disturbance in his lower limbs and a desk-bound job.
Macmillan’s May 2021 jump
Macmillan says he was stationed at RAF Akrotiri in 2021 and joined the RAF in 2016. He says he was encouraged to jump from a 50ft cliff during an outing with four army friends, and that his spine was crushed when he hit the water.
Craig Carr, acting for Macmillan, said a corporal introduced him to the site and encouraged him to jump into the water. In court papers quoted in the claim, Carr said the cliff was accessed regularly by service personnel and that Macmillan should never have been allowed to make the jump.
Ministry of Defence defence
The claim says superiors permitted, allowed and encouraged members of staff to use the cliff area to jump into the water, and says those in command at the base failed to undertake risk assessments. It also says jumping from the site should have been prohibited because the location was on sovereign British military land.
Daniel Laking, for the Ministry of Defence, said Macmillan took the risk of his own volition. He said Macmillan was off duty, free to choose whether to jump or not, and that the site was not part of the workplace.
High Court negligence claim
The case turns on negligence: whether the Ministry of Defence had a legal duty to protect a service member during an off-duty activity on military land, and whether that duty was breached by allowing the jump to go ahead. Macmillan’s account and the ministry’s defence are now directly opposed on that point.
Macmillan says he lost sensation in his legs immediately after entering the water, swam to rocks at the base of the cliffs and was assisted out. He underwent surgery for a fracture to his lower back and the insertion of screws and rods, and the High Court claim seeks compensation for the long-term effects of those injuries.
The next step is the High Court case itself, where the court will decide whether the jump was a voluntary risk or an event the MoD should have prevented. If Macmillan succeeds, the award could go to the full amount he is claiming.
