Police to reject Deepcut murder theory

Published on Sunday 17 August 2003 01:00

DETECTIVES investigating the suspicious deaths of four young soldiers at the Deepcut barracks are preparing to rule out foul play, despite new evidence suggesting that they did not commit suicide.

Surrey Police were last month forced to postpone publishing the results of their year-long inquiry into the suspicious deaths after independent expert Frank Swann poured scorn on the official Ministry of Defence explanation that the youngsters killed themselves.

But it emerged last night that the police remain unconvinced of the fresh allegations that the deaths, between 1995 and 2002, were down to foul play.

The final report will now be delayed for at least a month longer, while the force investigates "differences" between Swann’s findings and those of the forensic experts consulted during the inquiry, which was ordered following the death of 17-year-old private James Collinson, from Perth

Several senior members of the MPs’ defence committee, who are to launch their own probe into the affair once the police report is published, revealed that Surrey officers briefed them on their findings at a confidential meeting in London last month, just before Swann’s evidence was submitted.

They confirmed the police had made it clear they were ready to back the army’s "suicide" explanation, pointing to evidence that a number of the soldiers had been under stress around the time of their deaths. Scotland on Sunday has established that Swann’s evidence to the police so far consists of only a single sheet of paper.

One MP last night said he had been told the force had not received anything that would change their minds.

"The police have delayed the report because they want to be able to include Swann’s findings in the report, but he has not given them anything that changes things," he said. "I have been told it is more to do with his own interpretation of the existing evidence than anything new he has come up with.

"There’s a lot more to each case than has been in the press - how close does anyone know their own 17 and 18-year-olds? There’s a lot of lessons in terms of how the forces look after their young recruits, but they are saying these recruits were under pressure."

Scotland on Sunday understands that Surrey Police are planning to include allegations that some of the dead soldiers were suffering emotional trauma, including relationship problems, in their report. The police will criticise the army’s procedures for looking after young recruits who are suffering from emotional problems.

Another committee member who attended the secret briefing claimed that they had presented a convincing case for ruling out foul play in the shootings.

The MP said: "I went in with the stance that there was something wrong with every one of the cases. I am very sceptical of army life. We didn’t go right through each case individually, but there was enough to convince people that there was no evidence of foul play.

"If Frank Swann has come up with new evidence that they didn’t know about, then the police will have to look at it, but there is no sign that he has done that."

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

Last night, Geoff Gray’s father, also called Geoff Gray, remained adamant that his son was murdered.

"I’m sure he was, and with the Frank Swann findings, evidence going missing and certain people telling lies, I’m more convinced.

"There’s not enough evidence to point towards suicide.

"We should finish the police investigation as soon as possible and then ask for a public inquiry. That is the only way we are going to get anywhere near the answers to this."

Swann, who was hired by the families of the four recruits, 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 they could have been caused by an accident. An inquest into Private Collinson’s death has yet to be held.

Swann also said it was possible that two of the bullet wounds in the case of Sean Benton were self-inflicted, but that it was "highly unlikely" that three wounds on his torso were self-inflicted. Similarly, he said that it was "highly unlikely" that bullet wounds to the heads of Cheryl James and Geoff Gray were self-inflicted.

A team of 30 detectives from Surrey Police spent a year examining the Deepcut deaths. It had been expected before Swann’s intervention that the police would not ask the Crown Prosecution Service to consider a criminal prosecution in relation to any of the deaths.

A spokeswoman for Surrey Police said the force was trying to arrange a meeting between Swann and the German experts and officers from the Forensic Science Service who assisted the police investigation.