Claim soldier given sex order night before death

DEEPCUT: Fellow squaddie said he had carried burden of guilt for decades

A young female private found dead at Deepcut barracks was ordered by a superior to have sex with another soldier the night before she died, an inquest has heard.

Private Cheryl James, 18, was discovered with a fatal bullet wound in November 1995 – one of four recruits to die at the Army training camp in Surrey over a seven-year period.

Fellow squaddie Mark Beards told Woking Coroner’s Court that she had confided in him about the order and he had been “carrying the guilt” of her death for years.

But under cross-examination he was accused of being “a liar and a fantasist”.

He told the inquest he bumped into Pte James at around 11.10pm and she told him she had been ordered by Sergeant Andrew Gavaghan to go into a room with Pte Ian Atkinson – known as Aki – to have sex.

He said: “I asked her what she was doing there and she said she had to meet Aki. I asked her why she had to meet Aki and she explained to me she had to go into the room with him.

“I asked her, ‘What do you mean?’. She said, ‘I’ve got to do it’.

“I said, ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do’.”

Mr Beards said he understood that Pte James meant she had been ordered to have sex, although he admitted she did not use the word sex.

The former soldier, who left the Army the following year, said he was furious with his former best friend and had a row with him the next morning.

Under tough cross-examination, John Beggs QC, representing Surrey Police, said: “What I regret to have to suggest to you is that you are someone who lies at the drop of a hat.”

Mr Beards replied: “I don’t agree with that.”

He added: “I’ve carried the guilt of Cheryl’s death on my back for 22 years.”

Nicholas Moss, representing the Ministry of Defence, pointed out inconsistencies in the statements Mr Beards made to police in 2002 compared with the evidence he gave to court.

Mr Moss said: “You are a liar, a fantasist and probably a bit of both.”

And addressing the witness, Francesca Whitelaw, who also represents the Ministry of Defence, said: “You were the one who made the leap that she was ordered to have sex. I’m going to suggest that’s a complete fabrication by you.”

The inquest into the death of Pte James, from Llangollen in North Wales, was adjourned until this morning.