Sgt Blackman's rank was a significant contributory factor in preventing others within the patrol from questioning his orders or challenging his actions.

In the subsequent inquiry Lord Woolf, a judge, identified overcrowding, overstretched and oppressive staff and grim conditions such as “slopping out” as contributory factors.

"Acute ethanol intoxication" was a contributory cause of Mikhail Lesin's death on 5 November last year, said the US Attorney for District of Columbia.