Hoon rejects calls for inquiry into deaths at Deepcut

The Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, dismissed demands yesterday for an immediate public inquiry into the deaths of four soldiers killed in mysterious circumstances at an army barracks in Surrey.

Despite revelations yesterday that forensic evidence has been destroyed by the military, Mr Hoon thwarted the hopes of the victims' families and a Labour MP by insisting it would be inappropriate at this time.

Sean Benton, 20, and the 17-year-olds Cheryl James, Geoff Gray and James Collinson died at the Princess Royal Barracks in Deepcut between 1995 and March 2002. In each case, investigations by the Army concluded that gunshot wounds to the head or body were self-inflicted.

It was only after the parents of two of the dead soldiers protested at having their sons' deaths classified as suicide that Surrey police launched a fresh inquiry which uncovered a catalogue of flaws involving forensic and witness evidence missed during the initial investigations.

Private Collinson, from Perth, Scotland, was discovered in March this year with a single gunshot wound to the head.

Subsequent investigations by police uncovered claims that the teenager, who his family described as being in an upbeat mood prior to his death, may have been a victim of bullying.

Other questions raised over the position of the body and angle of the gunshot have convinced his parents, Jim and Yvonne Collinson, that he was the victim of a killer at the base who may have been responsible for the deaths of at least three other soldiers.

The body of Pte Gray, from Hackney, east London, was found shot twice in the head at the barracks' perimeter fence. While military investigators said the death was suicide, witnesses have since come forward to claim hearing three shots that night. They said the body appeared to have been moved between the time of death and its discovery.

At an inquest in Woking in March, the Surrey Coroner, Michael Burgess, concluded that Pte Gray did not take his own life, and recorded an open verdict. Similar verdicts were recorded in relation to the deaths of Pte Benton and Pte James. The inquest into the death of Pte Collinson has yet to be held.

In May, Surrey Police announced they were reopening the investigation into the deaths of two soldiers but, a month later, widened their inquiry to include the shooting of Pte Benton, from Hastings, Sussex, who was shot five times in the chest, and Pte James, from Llangollen, north Wales, found shot once in the head. Both killings took place in 1995 and it has subsequently been claimed that they had been subjected to bullying and possibly, in the case of Pte James, sexual harassment.

As soon as Surrey Police took over the inquiry, a ballistics expert was called in to examine the weapons believed to have been involved. It emerged that none of the SA-80 rifles involved in any of the four deaths were ever forensically examined, but it now appears that the identity of the rifles used may be in question as the Army's gun logs have been destroyed.

Other pieces of evidence, including documents and clothes, were disposed of by the Army, who said they did not think they would be needed again once the initial military and civilian investigations finished.

"There is no reason for such evidence to be destroyed by the Army," said Pte Gray's father, Geoff, yesterday. "This no longer smells of a cover-up – it stinks. It's clear that something significant has been going on – bullying, murder, whatever.

"There simply has to be a public inquiry now this information has come out."

His demand for the military to be called to account publicly was echoed by the Labour MP Kevin McNamara, a former defence spokesman, who said he was "amazed" by reports that the Army had destroyed evidence.

He said: "Normally one keeps forensics in suspicious deaths ... it is quite surprising that evidence would be destroyed in quite this sort of way.

"I want, once the Deepcut inquiries are over, for there to be a full public inquiry about the nature of the deaths that have taken place.

"There have been 1,748 non-combatant deaths in the British Army in the past 10 years. That is an awful lot of deaths.

"In some ways it looks as if it is more dangerous to be in a barrack room than to be on the battlefield in the British Army."

Mr Hoon said he was doing everything possible to find out what had happened at the barracks.

He said: "I don't think it makes sense at this stage to say there should be a public inquiry when we do not know what the Surrey Police inquiry will reveal.

"That's why our own internal inquiries are awaiting whatever Surrey Police find by way of an explanation."

In July, a House of Commons committee said there would be a formal inquiry into the deaths once the police investigation had been completed.

Yesterday Pte Benton's mother, Linda, said: "It's been very, very hard. I find it very distressing, and I'm starting to get angry now too."