This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/25/deepcut-army-apologises-to-family-benton-inquest

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Army apologises to family of young soldier who died at Deepcut Army apologises to family of young soldier who died at Deepcut
(35 minutes later)
Inquest hears welfare at barracks ‘should have been better’ at time of Pte Sean Benton’s deathInquest hears welfare at barracks ‘should have been better’ at time of Pte Sean Benton’s death
Press AssociationPress Association
Thu 25 Jan 2018 17.25 GMTThu 25 Jan 2018 17.25 GMT
First published on Thu 25 Jan 2018 13.10 GMTFirst published on Thu 25 Jan 2018 13.10 GMT
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
View more sharing optionsView more sharing options
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on Google+Share on Google+
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
CloseClose
The army has apologised to the family of a young soldier who died at Deepcut barracks. The welfare of young British army recruits was neglected at a time of defence cuts and large-scale reorganisation, an inquest into the death of one of four soldiers found shot dead at a training barracks has heard.
Brig Chris Coles told an inquest there were “quite a number of things that could and should have been better” at the time of Pte Sean Benton’s death in June 1995. A senior officer told the inquest on Thursday that the ratio of instructors to trainees fell as low as one to 200 at Deepcut barracks in Surrey, when the ideal is one to 12.
Benton, 20, was found with five bullets in his chest shortly after he had been told he was to be discharged from the army. He was the first of four young soldiers to die from gunshot wounds at the Surrey barracks between 1995 and 2002. The shortage of non-commissioned officers may have led to some being aggressive during training, Brig Christopher Coles, the head of the army personnel services group said.
Giving evidence during an inquest at Woking coroner’s court, Coles, the head of the Army Personnel Services Group, was taken through a statement he made last November. A picture of neglect of the welfare of young recruits emerged at the inquest into the death of Pte Sean Benton, 20, the first of four recruits to be found shot dead at Deepcut between June 1995 and March 2002.
Beforehand, he addressed Benton’s sister, Tracy Lewis, and twin brother, Tony, saying: “The statement acknowledges quite a number of things that could and should have been better at the time of Sean’s death.” Coles, who was not involved in the command of Deepcut, said a decision had been taken during a defence review to “redirect pressurised resources” towards front line requirements, which meant that other activity, such as training, received less.
Coles said: “The set-up of Deepcut and the ratio of instructors and trainees was not as it should have been and not as it would be now and that led to the risk that people in training in Deepcut … their welfare was not properly attended to in the way it should have been, and for that I’m very sorry.” He said he wanted to apologise to Benton’s sister and twin brother, and he said he regretted that their parents, who have died, could not hear his apology.
He added: “Linked to that, it came much too late in the day, the policy for arming individual sentries, particularly trainees at Deepcut. It came very late that that system was changed.” “Quite a number of things could and should have been done better at the time of Sean’s death,” he said. “The set-up at Deepcut and ratio of instructors and trainees was not as it should have been and not as it would be now. That led to the risk that people training at Deepcut – that their welfare was not properly attended do.”
He apologised and said: “It is something that I wish was not the case.” Young men and women and recruits of different ages were being trained together for the first time during the mid 1990s, Coles said, and civilian police investigators later heard complaints of bullying by fellow recruits and instructors.
He told the inquest that at the time Benton was at Deepcut “there was relatively too little supervision”. He said that trainee soldiers who had self-harmed were still handed firearms and ammunition when on guard duty, unless they had received a formal “medical downgrade” that prohibited this.
The inquest heard there was no formal overall welfare policy at Deepcut in 1995. Coles said there was not a formally constituted welfare committee, adding: “I think not having something formally constituted increases the risk.” The problem of inadequate resources to ensure trainees’ welfare was compounded during the merger of several different army units into Benton’s unit, the Royal Logistic Corps, where men and women were serving together for the first time.
In his statement, Coles said the Ministry of Defence accepted that the issue of access to weapons should have been clarified in policy. Coles added that the policy of issuing firearms to individual sentries had since been changed, but said this “came much too late in the day”.
The inquest also heard that junior officers would have issued punishments “informally”. Coles said: “At times the frequency and severity of the punishments given strayed beyond what was appropriate.” The inquest in Woking, Surrey, heard there was about one instructor for 100 trainees during the day at Deepcut, but that fell to about one for 200 at night. Some trainees drank to excess in the evening.
On Wednesday the inquest heard that Benton told his sister he had been “shackled” and “humiliated” at the base. Benton, from Hastings, East Sussex, had been told that he was to be discharged from the army. His family says he became withdrawn before his death and told them he had been deeply humiliated by being shackled and forced to parade around a canteen.
An army spokesman has already apologised for the “shortcomings” at Deepcut in 1995. “We took too long to recognise and rectify the situation,” the spokesman said. After persuading a fellow soldier that he was relieving her on guard duty and asking her to hand over her rifle, he was found dead with five bullet wounds across his torso.
Following a military police investigation, an inquest was held the next month. It lasted two hours and heard from six witnesses before the coroner recorded a suicide verdict.
The second new inquest was ordered by the high court following a campaign by Benton’s family and their lawyers from the human rights group Liberty. It is expected to last two months and will hear from 161 witnesses.
Five months after Benton’s death, Pte Cheryl James, 18, was found with a bullet wound to her head at Deepcut. A fresh inquest concluded in 2016 that she committed suicide. Seventeen year olds Geoff Gray and James Collinson were found shot dead in 2001 and 2002.
DeepcutDeepcut
British armyBritish army
MilitaryMilitary
newsnews
Share on FacebookShare on Facebook
Share on TwitterShare on Twitter
Share via EmailShare via Email
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn
Share on PinterestShare on Pinterest
Share on Google+Share on Google+
Share on WhatsAppShare on WhatsApp
Share on MessengerShare on Messenger
Reuse this contentReuse this content