New evidence comes to light over Deepcut
CORONERS could be ordered to open new inquests into the deaths of three more soldiers who died in suspicious circumstances at Deepcut barracks,
The Sunday Telegraph can disclose. Lawyers representing the soldiers’ families have used the Human Rights Act to obtain unseen documents which they believe will persuade the Attorney General to quash old verdicts.
They believe evidence in the documents will demonstrate a string of police blunders in their original investigations and give crucial details which may implicate others in the deaths.
The Army’s insistence that four re- cruits who died of gunshot wounds while on guard duty at The Princess Royal Barracks between 1995 and 2002 were all suicides, despite inquests later delivering open verdicts, led to furious accusations of an official cover-up.
The families of Pte Sean Benton, Pte Cheryl James, Pte Geoff Gray and Pte James Collinson have maintained that they were either pushed into taking their own lives by “a culture of bullying” or possibly murdered.
After a two-decade campaign for justice and with a new inquest into Pte James’ death underway, the remaining three families believe they too may now be close to finding out the truth.
Allegations about a dark culture at the barracks that included bullying, sexual abuse and violence left families unsatisfied with official explanations.
The Attorney General is due to announce its decision in the coming weeks whether to open a fresh inquest into the death of Pte Benton, the first of the soldiers to die at the Surrey Royal Logistics Corps barracks. It follows an application from human rights group Liberty which says it has obtained “significant” new evidence from Surrey Police which was not considered at his original inquest.
Pte Benton, 20, of Hastings, East Sussex, was found dead in 1995 with five bullet wounds to his chest.
An independent ballistics expert, Frank Swann, later said it was impossible for Pte Benton to have killed himself and it appeared he had been shot at close range.
His siblings Tracy Lewis and Tony Benton said: “The information that has come out of the Cheryl James inquest about the shameful environment that existed at Deepcut has been frighten- ing and overwhelming. Having secured access to the materials held by the authorities about our brother, we have applied for a fresh inquest and we hope that we too will soon be able to find out what happened to him.”
Liberty is also gathering fresh evidence about Pte Collinson, 17, who was found dead in 2002 with a single gunshot wound in the head.
His mother Yvonne Heath said she was “quietly confident” that the documents would lead to a new inquest. “Surrey Police were very quick to say that there was no evidence of third party involvement at the time, but was that because it wasn’t there or because they didn’t look?” she said.