Tri-Service

Army Apologises To Family Of Cheryl James

The family of Private Cheryl James, who died at Deepcut Barracks 20 years ago, has received an apology from the Army.

Brigadier John Donnelly, Director of Personal Services, addressed Private James' father Des and said he and his wife were owed an apology.

The new inquest also heard that the recruit had been "desperate" to leave the Army in the days before her death.

A childhood friend said she became concerned about the 18-year-old after speaking to her on the phone a week before she was discovered with a fatal bullet wound at Deepcut in Surrey in November 1995.

Giving evidence on the second day of an inquest, Lydia Baksh said Private James had come to hate being in the Army. Ms Baksh said:

"She was just being reprimanded all the time and getting put on guard duty a lot, which she just couldn't bear. She just wanted to go AWOL."

The inquest has already heard Pte James, who was adopted, had been the victim of an alleged rape by two boys when she was 14 and she had taken an overdose of paracetamol after the suicide of her 18-year-old cousin Rob in 1992.

Ms Baksh said Pte James had been known to cut herself in her teenage years but that it was "nothing serious". She said:

"On her arm she had little cuts. It was nothing serious ... She was just trying to deal with what she was going through."

While in a statement to police about Pte James' death Ms Baksh said she was "certain" her friend had killed herself, she told the court: "Now, I wouldn't say I feel certain."

A second inquest into the death of Pte James, from Llangollen in North Wales, is examining evidence suggesting she may have been sexually exploited by senior ranks shortly before her death.

A 2002 review of an investigation into Pte James' death recommended three soldiers should have been re-interviewed about what happened, the inquest heard.

The major crime review team raised concerns around the initial investigation into the death of Private Cheryl James, and the document was "a trigger" for the Surrey Police probe, Alison Foster QC said.

More: "Cheryl James Bullet Wound May Not Have Been Self-Inflicted"

Ms Foster, representing the family, read extracts from the review team's report which described statements taken from people in connection with Pte James' death as "substandard".

The review also said, Ms Foster told the court, that there were a number of factors with reference to the way Pte James's body was found which should have raised questions about how she died.

These included the proximity of the weapon to the body, the position of the rifle, and an apparent lack of blood, Ms Foster said.