Daily Mirror

Tragic Private ‘shackled in his barracks’

Soldier humiliated, inquest told

- BY ANDY LINES Chief Reporter andy.lines@mirror.co.uk

A YOUNG soldier found dead with five bullets in his chest had been “shackled” and felt humiliated, an inquest heard yesterday.

Pte Sean Benton, 20, was “embarrasse­d” after being forced to parade around the canteen at Deepcut Barracks, said his sister. He was found dead in 1995 after learning of his army discharge.

A previous verdict of suicide was set aside in 2016 and a new hearing ordered.

Pte Benton, of Hastings, East Sussex, was one of four soldiers to die in mysterious circumstan­ces at the camp near Camberley, Surrey, from 1995 to 2002.

His sister Tracy Lewis, at the hearing with Pte Benton’s twin Tony, recalled her brother saying he had been “shackled”.

She said: “He was made to parade around the canteen and was embarrasse­d and felt very humiliated.”

Coroner Peter Rook also heard how Benton had tried to kill himself twice – at 16 with paracetamo­l and another overdose when he joined the army.

His late father had said his son hated Deepcut “It was doing his head in,” he added. Statements made by his mother Linda, who died in 2015, included one questionin­g why, if the Army were concerned about her son’s state of mind, was he not more closely supervised.

Benton had denied he was being bullied but told her “he wanted to get away”.

Mr Rook appealed for nine potential witnesses to be found for the twomonth hearing in Woking, Surrey.

The Army said it deeply regretted the death, apologisin­g for “shortcomin­gs”.

 ??  ?? TWINS Sean as a lad, right, and brother Tony
TWINS Sean as a lad, right, and brother Tony
 ??  ?? HATED BASE Pte Benton told mum he wanted out
HATED BASE Pte Benton told mum he wanted out

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