Father 'devastated' by Deepcut finding

Des James: "I cannot get my head around it"

Independent evidence suggesting an Army recruit's death at Deepcut barracks was highly unlikely to have been suicide is "devastating", her father has said.

Four soldiers - Sean Benton, Geoff Gray, James Collinson and Cheryl James - all died from gunshot wounds at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey between 1995 and 2002.

An independent investigator, hired by the four families after a Ministry of Defence investigation ruled the deaths were suicides, has concluded Private James' bullet wound to the head was "highly unlikely" to have been self-inflicted.

Surrey Police delayed releasing the results of its year-long investigation after receiving the report, by independent expert Frank Swann.

Pte James' father, Des, said it had left the police with "egg on their faces" and renewed calls for a public inquiry into the affair.

"It has come as a bit of a shock to be honest," Mr James said.

"We did not expect it and we were not given any indication by Frank Swann that that was what he had found. It creates more questions than answers.

Surrey Police need to reflect on the way they have conducted themselves Des James

"What we believed was that we did not know. We were told it was suicide, but it was never investigated properly.

"It was never proved that it was suicide and it was never proved it was anything else."

Mr James said Mr Swann had not offered him a theory as to why his daughter had died, but had only said he thought it was "highly unlikely" the bullet wound which killed her was self inflicted.

"To be honest, that part of it is devastating," said Mr James.

"To have to change your mindset entirely, to think that somebody else may have been involved in her death, is impossible.

"I cannot get my head around it," he added.

During the six weeks Mr Swann and his investigating team spent at the barracks with a mobile laboratory, they test-fired the weapon used in the deaths.

The dead soldiers Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex, 1995 Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, north Wales, 1995 Geoff Gray, 17, from Seaham, County Durham, 2001 James Collinson, 17, from Perth, Scotland, 2002

Mr Swann said he was not able to use the weapon to self-inflict a wound similar to the pattern of injury in the dead soldiers.

"We were left with a situation in one case where the guy would have needed 15ft-long arms because you couldn't get that pattern unless you were standing 15 foot away from the person who was injured," he told BBC News 24.

He said he did not know why the police did not reach the same conclusions nor could he say why the recruits died.

"We can't use emotive words like murder. We can say it's either self-inflicted, or highly likely, unlikely, et cetera.

"It is really a matter for the police, the coroner, the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service, people like that to make these decisions."

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

Relatives of the dead refused to believe it was suicide

Mr James criticised the Surrey force, saying they had not handled the situation well.

"Surrey Police need to reflect on the way they have conducted themselves the last few days," he said.

"They decided to go ahead with their briefing, then Frank Swann comes up with his statement and they have egg on their faces," he added.

Mr James' sentiments were echoed by the father of Mr Collinson's father.

Jim Collinson said: "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'."

"Maybe Frank Swann's report will be the last piece of straw that will break the donkey's back, and will finally get a public inquiry into these deaths."