Police uncover mysterious links in deaths of soldiers
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An investigation into the mysterious "suicide" of a young soldier while on guard duty at a military training camp has uncovered disturbing similarities and anomalies involving the deaths of three others.
All the victims were stationed at the Deepcut training camp in Surrey when they were killed by gunshot wounds to the head or body.
Initial army investigations claimed their deaths were suicides. However, since the parents of two of the dead soldiers protested against the findings, a civilian police inquiry has uncovered a catalogue of flaws involving crucial scientific and witness evidence missed in initial investigations.
Private James Collinson, aged 17, was the most recent soldier to die. He was found on 17 March with a single gunshot wound to the head, having allegedly borrowed a powerful SA80 rifle from another soldier while on guard duty at the Royal Logistics Corps HQ.
Despite claims by his family and friends that the teenager had been in an upbeat mood and had no reason to kill himself, Ministry of Defence officials concluded his death was suicide. His parents, Jim and Yvonne Collinson from Perth, Tayside, believe he was the victim of a killer who might have been responsible for the deaths of three other soldiers.
Exactly six months before Private Collinson died, Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Hackney, east London, was also found shot dead at the barracks while on guard duty.
Investigators claimed the death was suicide even though the inquest revealed that he had been shot twice in the head. Witnesses also claimed to have heard three shots and said that the body appeared to have been moved after the shooting. Michael Burgess, a Surrey coroner, recorded an "open verdict" on the death but remarked: "I do not find that he took his own life."
Now Private Gray's parents, Geoff and Diane Gray, have joined the call for a public inquiry into the deaths.
Fears that their children might have been the victims of a serial killer have been heightened by the nature of the deaths of two other soldiers at the barracks in 1995.
Private Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex, died in June 1995 after he was hit in the chest by five bullets. He was found sitting next to the perimeter fence of the base with his rifle between his legs.
The army investigation said he had suffered from depression, but there have been no answers as to why only one of the bullets was fired at close range while the others were from far away and angled from above.
Similar questions remain over the death of Private Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, Clwyd, in November 1995. Six months after joining the army she was found dead in woodland next to the Deepcut base with a single bullet wound to her head and her army-issue rifle and spent cartridge next to her body.
Her parents, Doreen and Des James, believe she was killed because witnesses say she was seen joking minutes before she was found.
Last week, Surrey Police announced that it would investigate again the deaths of Private Gray and Private Collinson, and a ballistics experts has been called in for the first time to make a scientific examination of the weapons.
The MoD defended itself against accusations that the army wrongly issues weapons to teenage soldiers. "Guard duty is an essential task that all soldiers may be required to undertake. All soldiers aged 17 years and above that have completed their basic military training, and are current with their annual personal weapons test, may carry a weapon on guard duty in Great Britain.
"The British Army has a duty of care to its service personnel and takes its responsibility seriously. Our sincere sympathies are offered to the families of these soldiers."