New evidence suggests Private Cheryl James did not kill herself

A top forensic pathologist has cast doubt over claims that Private Cheryl James killed herself at Deepcut Barracks.

The 18-year-old army recruit was found with a fatal head wound on November 27 1995, making her one of four young soldiers to die at the barracks in Surrey over a seven-year period, between 1995 and 2002.

Ballistics experts have told her inquest that “soot deposits” could be seen on her face and thumb that are “indicative” of a close or hard contact gunshot wound.

But forensic pathologist Professor Derrick Pounder, brought in by Pte James’s family to provide an exhumation post-mortem examination on the soldier last year, said dark marks that had been taken for soot were actually either dirt or bruising.

And he said explanations given as to why no soot was found seared into Pte James’s head near the bullet wound were “not known to medical science”.

He told Woking Coroner’s Court that the issue of whether or not soot from the firing of the rifle could be found on Pte James’s body “is the determining fact, the critical fact to decide upon”. But he has told the inquest he did not find any soot in his examinations.

Comparing photos of Pte James, from Llangollen, Wales, with that of an anonymous suicide victim, known only as Soldier A, he said the latter “clearly show the searedin soot and propellant” and bits of soot next to the wound.

He added: “When we turn to the photos of Miss James what we see are lacerations, what we don’t see is any seared-in soot and propellant.

The coroner will deliver his conclusions on May 18.