Police delay Deepcut troop death findings

Published on Saturday 2 August 2003 01:00

POLICE investigating the deaths of four soldiers at the controversial Deepcut barracks have delayed releasing their findings after independent evidence suggested many of the bullet wounds were not self-inflicted.

Independent investigator Frank Swann submitted evidence to Surrey Police stating that it was "highly unlikely" that many of the fatal bullets were fired by the soldiers themselves.

Police postponed a briefing to announce their findings because of "differences" between the experts they consulted.

They had been due to unveil the results of their year-long investigation into the deaths at a special briefing on Tuesday.

Private James Collinson, 17, from Perth; Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Hackney, east London; Private Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex and Private Cheryl James, from Llangollen, north Wales, died of gunshot injuries at the Deepcut barracks between 1995 and 2002.

Mr Swann said that in the case of James Collinson, it was "unlikely" that the bullet wounds to the underside of his chin and head were self-inflicted, but that it was also possible they were a result of an accident.

His parents, Jim and Yvonne Collinson, welcomed the police decision to consider Mr Swann’s report.

"At least now Surrey Police seem to have come to their senses and said: ‘Wait a minute, maybe Frank Swann has got a point here, let’s stop our report and get all the experts together to discuss the findings’," said Mr Collinson, 40.

Mr Swann was hired by the families of the four recruits, all of whom died of gunshot wounds at the barracks, to investigate their deaths. He said that in the case of Sean Benton he believed it was possible two of the bullet wounds were self-inflicted, but that it was "highly unlikely" the other three bullet wounds on the torso were self-inflicted.

He said it was "highly unlikely" that bullet wounds to the heads of Cheryl James and Geoff Gray were self-inflicted.

Police decided to postpone the briefing after finally receiving Mr Swann’s report.

They had consulted Mr Swann, the Forensic Science Service and the German Federal Criminal Office.

The families of the recruits have always refused to accept the theory that they committed suicide using their own rifles.

Mr Swann began his investigation, which was originally scheduled to take around six weeks, in January.

He was given access to the base and attempted to reconstruct the exact circumstances surrounding each death to assess whether the gunshot wounds could have been self-inflicted.

A spokeswoman for Surrey police said: "The original ballistics examinations in this investigation were undertaken by the Forensic Science Service. Mr Frank Swann disagreed with their findings.

"Mr Swann has agreed to meet the other experts to jointly discuss their findings and rationale behind them. It is therefore inappropriate to conclude our investigation until this meeting has taken place."

A team of 30 detectives from Surrey Police spent a year examining the deaths of the four soldiers at the Surrey barracks.

The inquiry was launched in the wake of the death of Private Collinson in March 2002.

Up until recently, Surrey Police had stated they had found no evidence of third party involvement in any of the deaths.

It had been widely expected that the police would not ask the Crown Prosecution Service to consider a criminal prosecution.