Trainee recruits at Deepcut Barracks were left “running around” taking illegal drugs and drinking while under age, an inquest has been told.
Private Cheryl James, 18, was found dead from a single bullet wound at the Army training base in Surrey on November 27 1995.
Warrant Officer Sarah Ditchfield, who carried out her training alongside Pte James, said Deepcut was “chaotic” and there was not enough supervision for the young trainees.
She told Surrey Coroner’s Court on the fourth day of the inquest in Woking: “We were 17-year-old kids who had money in our pockets, there was nothing else for us.”
“Recruits were running about and didn’t know what we were doing from one minute to the next,” she added.
She admitted taking illegal drugs with her fellow trainees at a nightclub and said Pte James had taken speed, a class B amphetamine.
WO1 Ditchfield broke down in tears as she recalled the death of her friend and said Pte James’s boyfriend Paul Wilkinson was “in bits” after hearing the news.
She described Pte James, who was also in a relationship with another recruit, James Carr-Minns, as “fun-loving”.
Pte James had told her friend she joined the army because she “had no life” and was afraid she would “end up on drugs” if she went home, the inquest heard.
She allegedly “didn’t give a shit” about being a soldier and had asked fellow recruit Marina Fawcett to go awol (absent without leave) with her.
On another occasion Pte James “joked” about killing herself, she said.
“She literally mentioned ‘we’re going to shoot ourselves on guard duty one day aren’t we?’ and I said yes,” she added.
“She was saying it as general banter… I don’t know why she said it, it just sounded like a laugh like when someone says something stupid.”
Ms Fawcett said one of the training sergeants was “slimy” and had “basically wanted to get it on with” Pte James.
“They (the senior officers) were on a power trip and they got a buzz off it,” she added.
One of the last people to see Pte James alive described Deepcut as a “prison camp”.
Nicola Clifford, who lent her fellow recruit a waterproof coat moments before she died, said in a statement: “I would describe Deepcut as a prison camp where we were not allowed to have a life.”
Pte James was being “given a hard time” over her relationships and had been called a “slag” by her fellow trainees, the inquest heard.
One of her former teachers described her as a “mixed-up kid” who was “crying out for help”.
Heather Williams, who taught her for five years at Ysgol Dinas Bran in Llangollen, Wales, said her problems stemmed from the fact that she was adopted.
“When I found out about her death I was shocked but not surprised,” she added in a statement read to the inquest.
“She was always searching for something, a true belonging. She had a chip on her shoulder about not knowing her real parents or that she was adopted sooner.
“Cheryl was a child crying out for help, very insecure and had deep-seated problems – overall a mixed-up kid.”
Pte James was one of four young soldiers who died at the barracks over a seven-year-period, and a fresh inquest into her death was previously told forensic evidence shows she may not have killed herself.
A second inquest into the death of Pte James, from Llangollen, North Wales, is examining evidence suggesting she may have been sexually exploited by senior ranks shortly before her death.
High Court judges ordered the fresh inquest in 2014 after they quashed an open verdict recorded in December 1995.
Privates Sean Benton, 20, James Collinson, 17, and Geoff Gray, 17, also died from gunshot wounds at the barracks between 1995 and 2002.
The inquest will continue on Friday at 10am.