Barracks’ closure is queried by family
Jan 7 2008 by Paul James, The Journal
THE closure of an Army barracks where a North soldier was among four recruits found shot dead is expected to be announced tomorrow.
Deepcut Barracks in Surrey – where Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Seaham in County Durham, died amid claims of widespread bullying and abuse – will be torn down as part of a Government plan to improve army training.
Deepcut and a number of other bases have been under review for some time as the Ministry of Defence looks at the way it provides training.
It is likely the base in Surrey, which is the main training centre for the Royal Logistics Corps, will be bulldozed to make way for a housing estate containing up to 5,000 homes.
Private Gray was one of four young soldiers who died of gunshot wounds on the base between 1995 and 2002.
The families off all four soldiers are continuing to call for a public inquiry, rejecting inquest verdicts and the beliefs of the Ministry of Defence and police that they had committed suicide.
Last night Private Gray’s mother Diane, 43, questioned the closure of the infamous barracks, suggesting that media interest in Deepcut meant it was the safest training facility the army had.
She said: “Looking back this past year and listening to all the changes that have been made, it’s probably the safest place to be and it’s a shame it’s closing down.
“We were told they were opening a great big site in Wales where it’s going to be run properly. But Deepcut is probably one of the safest because everybody is watching it.”
She added: “We’re still no further forward with finding out what happened to Geoff. We’ve had the Board of Inquiry but we’re no closer to where we need to be. People can’t be subpoenaed to go the Board of Inquiry and some people refused to go. But if we had a public inquiry they would have no choice.”
Private Gray’s father, who is also called Geoff, said: “If you had asked me last year I would have said the place should be burnt down.
“But I have talked with the commanding officer, the regimental sergeant major and the WRVS over the last year and it is a very well run place at the moment.”
It is believed the closure of the barracks, which trains thousands of recruits every year, will be staggered, with training at some level continuing in the short-term.
Ministers are understood to be making a parliamentary statement this week detailing the closure but the MoD last night refused to comment on the plans.
A MoD spokesman said: “There is an on-going review aimed at maximising defence training outputs but we cannot pre-empt any statements that ministers might make in due course to Parliament.”
The other soldiers to die at the base were Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, north Wales and James Collinson, 17, from Perth in Scotland.
Inquests into the deaths recorded a verdict of suicide in Private Benton’s case and open verdicts for the other three.
An independent review of the deaths, conducted by Nicholas Blake QC, later concluded the deaths probably were self-inflicted but criticised army training, citing “harassment, discrimination and oppressive behaviour”.
