New Deepcut Review; Minister's Statement Fails to Reassure the Public

Summary

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To date, the unexplained deaths of four recruits at Deepcut army barracks have been the subject of five reports, three coroners' inquests and an ongoing Commons defence select committee investigation. To that list can now be added a further review, announced by Adam Ingram, the defence minister, yesterday. Frankly, it stands as much chance of establishing what caused the deaths of privates Sean Benton, 20, Cheryl James 18, Geoff Gray, 17, and James Collinson, also 17, between 1995 and 2002 as any previous investigation.

A full public inquiry, chaired by a judge with powers to summon and cross-examine witnesses, would be best to establish the truth. The government has mistakenly ruled that out. Mr Ingram told the Commons there would be no virtue in a public inquiry. If the aim is to reassure the public about Deepcut, and what presently goes on in army training camps, it will take much more than a review on the government's terms and chaired by its nominee (identity as yet unknown).

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New Deepcut Review; Minister's Statement Fails to Reassure the Public

Yesterday's announcement is a paradigm of how ministers have failed to convince the public (and the victims' families) that th...

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