Deaths at Deepcut army barracks

Deepcut army camp, showing many of the main buildings and some of the surrounding landscape.

There were four deaths at Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002 of trainees in Phase 2 of soldier training: Sean Benton, Cheryl James, Geoff Gray and James Collison. They were each found with gunshot wounds. In each case the Coroner's verdict reached following an investigation by the Royal Military Police and Surrey Police was one of suicide.

Families of the trainees rejected the verdicts. British media gathered further accounts of fellow trainee soldiers and criticised the investigations for a lack of a forensic examination of evidence. Parliamentary criticism followed and a reconsideration of the scope of the investigations and scrutiny of training within the Ministry of Defence. A military law QC collated and published a private independent review between 2004 and March 2006 finding six deficiencies in the training regime of each trainee. Re-opening of the verdicts of each death was the conclusion of a 2009 Inquiry Report by the Army Inquiry Board, supporting the independent review. A second inquest in 2016 into the death of Pte. Cheryl James recorded a suicide verdict, adding "clear answers as to why are not there to be seen" and calls for a public inquiry have continued by the families affected. A second inquest in 2018 into the death of Pte. Sean Benton recorded a suicide verdict. Coroner Peter Rook QC described a 'toxic culture' at the barracks and said Pte Benton was frequently the recipient of harsh treatment.^[1][2]

Trainees

The four deaths were:^[3][4][5]

• On 9 June 1995, Private Sean Benton (20 years of age), from Hastings, East Sussex, England, who died from five bullet wounds in his chest.
• On 27 November 1995, Private Cheryl James (18) from Froncysyllte, Llangollen, Wales, died from a single bullet wound in her head, her body was found in a wood not far from her abandoned guard post.
• On 17 September 2001, Private Geoff Gray (17) from Seaham, County Durham, England, died from two gunshot wounds in his head whilst on guard duty, having left colleagues to carry out a lone prowler patrol in contravention of the normal Barracks' guard-duty procedure.
• On 23 March 2002, Private James Collinson (17) from Perth, Scotland, died from a single gunshot wound in his head whilst performing guard duty, his body being found near the Barracks' perimeter fence.

Investigations

First investigations of each death were undertaken by Surrey Police and the Royal Military Police, as each was an independent incident and determined in the usual manner for unexpected deaths by a Coroner. Each Coroner's inquest resulted in a verdict of suicide by gunshot wounds.

A later review/re-investigation by Surrey Police treated the four deaths as potentially related, but sustained the coroners' verdicts of suicide. An investigation consequent to this finding, also by Surrey Police, identified a number of failures of the Army's duty of care at the barracks, leaving the opportunity and motive for suicide available. Its findings were rejected by most members of the families who, following the series, sought and in most cases, still seek a judicial inquiry into the circumstances. The findings led to media and families' criticism of the army investigations of the deaths over record keeping, transparency and particularly maintenance of evidence and forensic material.

A March 2006-published private review with voluntary cooperation of all parties by Nicholas Blake QC of Matrix Chambers,^[3] completed over two years, concluded that it was more likely that the deaths were self-inflicted but criticised a number of aspects of training at Deepcut at the time which could have contributed to the deaths.

Points identified by his report were:

• The training environment at Deepcut, causing low morale through poor accommodation, limited recreational facilities, and the balance between privacy and dormitory life.
• Unsupervised access to weapons.
• Supervision of trainees.
• Discipline, bullying and informal sanctions.
• Ventilation of grievances.
• Poor instructors.

An Inquiry Report by the Army Board of Inquiry was due to be published in December 2007, but was delayed by the Ministry of Defence until May 2009. The inquiry supported Mr Blake QC's findings and returned open verdicts.^[6]

Parliamentary pressure

After questions in the House of Commons during 2003 and 2004, three Lords asked the government for a public inquiry in November 2004. A response was issued through its whip in the Lords Baroness Crawley:

^[7]

The Ministry of Defence had already in 2004 taken corrective action to expand its relationship with the Adult Learning Inspectorate to provide independent oversight of all armed forces training.^[8]

Media

Articles by journalists Brian Cathcart and Heather Mills critical of the investigations featured in Private Eye in January 2010. The publication has been consistently critical of these judgements and supports the families' appeals for further investigation. These criticisms draw on the later investigations to suggest the initial forensic investigations were flawed.^[9][10] Cathcart has also been critical of the treatment of the four cases in the media.^[11]

Further inquests

On 18 July 2014, the High Court ordered a second inquest into the death of soldier Pte Cheryl James following a judicial review brought by her family. The judge found “an insufficiency of inquiry” into her death.^[12] The original inquest, held in 1995 soon after her death, lasted barely an hour and recorded an open verdict. Surrey Police was criticised for its handling of the case and Mr Justice Thornton said that Surrey Police had at first refused full disclosure of the reinvestigation report to Pte James's family. The force eventually handed over 44 lever arch files of documents after being threatened with applying for an order for disclosure.^[12] The force said it had now voluntarily provided all relevant material to the family – since being asked to early in 2012 – and what had been disclosed "affords fresh grounds for an inquest". The documents handed over included "important material relating to ballistics, the noise of the gunshot, bullet fragments, the finding of the body, the credibility of some witnesses, and further witnesses".^[13] The ruling meant that new inquests were also likely to follow into the deaths of the other three trainee soldiers.^[14][15]

On 15 September 2014, it was announced that the fresh inquest would be conducted by Recorder of London, Brian Barker QC.^[16]

In March 2015, the family of Pte Geoff Gray demanded a fresh inquest after receiving 16,000 pages of new evidence from Surrey Police. At the original inquest, which lasted just four hours, only 20 pages of evidence were presented. Pte Gray’s father, also called Geoff, told the Daily Mirror: "I can’t go into what I’ve seen in the new pages, but it is all stuff that was not seen by the coroner at the original inquest into Geoff’s death. […] We were very, very naive. We should have had representation. It is pretty definite that we will be making an application to have a new inquest."^[17] The additional material was released following a legal request from counsel representing his family. The force said that it had "agreed to this request on a voluntary basis" adding that "Surrey Police is not reinvestigating the deaths, but is committed to providing disclosure to the families through their legal teams and will provide the appropriate support for any potential inquests in the future."^[17]

In April 2015, it was reported in Private Eye that, "on the force's own admission, it has still only handed over 75 % of the material it holds" in relation to Pte Cheryl James and that the force had made legal submissions to the Coroner Mr. Barker to delay the new inquest into her death "indefinitely". Private Eye also commented that Pte James's family, "should not be forced to wait any longer by the machinations of the police force which has let them down so many times before".^[15] The BBC reported Pte James’ father, Des James, as saying: "It's insensitive that they're delaying it. It's been really tough for us getting to this point. I made the mistake of relaxing and thinking I could leave it to the legal process."^[18] Advocacy group Liberty funded lawyers to act for the family saying the delay would: "have a devastating impact on Mr and Mrs James. They have come so far and made so much progress only to have Surrey Police make this eleventh hour request to delay matters. It is intolerable."^[19]

In May 2015, Private Eye reported: "Revelations last week that the ‘yellow’ fragment of bullet recovered from the body of teenager Cheryl James […] did not appear to match the ‘red’ army issue ammunition raises serious questions about the botched investigations and inquiries over 20 years into the deaths". The report added: "The assumption was always that she had committed suicide, even though there was no evidence to connect the SA80 weapon alongside her body with her death: no fingerprints were collected from the rifle; ammunition from it was inexplicably destroyed; the clothing Cheryl was wearing was never examined forensically; and, crucially, the bullet fragment said to have been collected at post-mortem, which we now know was ‘yellow’ (or brass, rather than copper-coated), had curiously disappeared". The magazine added that there was "material to suggest Cheryl had been the victim of serious harassment and sexual violence", which it said had "scandalously […] remained buried" in Surrey police files despite subsequent reviews of the force’s initial investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Blake review. Pte James’ parents argued, through their QC, for their daughter’s body to be exhumed in the hope of recovering further bullet fragments. Coroner Mr Barker QC postponed making what he described as the "difficult and unusual" step of ordering an exhumation, but rejected the suggestion from Surrey police to delay the inquest and hold it alongside those of the other Deepcut recruits.^[20] The coroner announced that there would be a further pre-hearing on Thursday September 10, 2015 and that the full inquest would be held between 1 February and 24 March 2016.^[21]

At the September 2015 pre-inquest hearing, the Coroner's Court in Woking was informed that Pte James’ body had been exhumed the previous month and that a post-mortem examination had been carried out by two pathologists, during which metallic fragments were recovered for ballistic analysis. Her family had attended a short reburial service, also in August 2015. The James family’s barrister, Alison Foster QC, said that the experts conducting the ballistic analysis "ought not to have a significant connection either with the MoD [Ministry of Defence] or indeed a police force and certainly no connection with Surrey Police" because of what she called a "considerable shadow" over the initial handling of the case.^[22]

On 3 June 2016, the appointed Coroner (the Recorder of London) ruled that her death was suicide. He said that she died as a result of a "self-inflicted shot" which she fired in an "intended and deliberate act".^[23][24] He added: "We have explored as best we can what could be unearthed at this late stage within the legal constraints I am bound by. Clear answers as to why are just not there to be seen."^[25]

The family rejected the conclusion – her father said he felt there had been a "gaping hole [in the evidence] and [did not] believe the evidence led to this verdict". Additionally, he described Deepcut as a "toxic and horrible place for a young woman", and called for a public inquiry into the culture of the barracks.^[24][26] Former head of the army, General Lord Dannatt said that there should be a public inquiry. The current head General Sir Nick Carter said "If that’s the best method of getting to the heart of the matter then I guess that should be the way that we go."^[26][27]

On 14 October 2016 Mr Justice Collins ruled a new inquest could take place into the death of Pte Sean Benton as fresh evidence had cast "some doubt" over the conclusion of the first hearing in 1995.^[28]

At a fresh pre-inquest hearing at the Old Bailey on 16 Jun 2017, a 10-point list was presented widening the scope to look at all the circumstances of Sean Benton's death. It included the details of how he died and whether there was “any third-party action” involved in the death.^[29]

On 28 November 2017, Lord Justice Bean and two other judges sitting at the High Court ruled it was "necessary or desirable in the interests of justice" for a fresh inquest to be held into the death of Pte Geoff Gray. They ordered the inquest in 2002 should be quashed with its verdict and findings. Justice Bean said the scope of the new inquest "and the issue of whether the coroner should, or should not, sit with a jury, should be a matter for the coroner".^[30]

Pte Benton's inquest began 30 January 2018 and concluded 6 months later. On 18 July appointed Coroner Judge Peter Rook QC ruled that his death was from suicide, caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the chest during a dispute after taking a weapon from a fellow soldier. The Coroner criticised Surrey Police’s original investigation. Concerns were raised over the initial investigation which was conducted by the Royal Military Police including lack of witnesses, no fingerprints were taken, and no evidence given about Sean’s experience at the barracks. Sean’s family accepted the suicide verdict but criticised Surrey Police and the Army. The family asked Surrey Police to open a criminal investigation because of multiple examples of testimony given during the inquest that described violence, bullying, and intimidation at Deepcut Barracks. Sean Benton's sister Tracy Lewis is quoted as saying, "Sean was a victim in a nasty game".^[31]

Following the Coroners verdict, Brigadier Christopher Coles, Head of Army Personnel Services apologised to Sean Benton's family and accepted that there was a failure to give Sean appropriate welfare support; better support "might have made a difference", he said.^[32]

Cultural references

The deaths were used as the basis for a play, Deep Cut, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival followed by a short run at the Tricycle Theatre in north London.^[33]

See also

• Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut

References

External links

• "Who were the Deepcut four?". BBC News. 1 February 2016.
• "Inquest into the death of Cheryl James: Factual Findings" (PDF). 3 June 2016.
• Deepcut. The truth – a site by the families of the victims