The mother of a tragic Perth soldier who died at Deepcut army barracks believes she may be closer to solving the mystery of her son’s death in the same week he would have reached the age of 30.
Yvonne Heath (formerly Collinson) said her “gut feeling” is she and her legal team will secure a further investigation into the death of her son, James, who died in 2002, and then hopefully discover the truth behind his demise.
Mrs Heath was speaking on Monday as a fresh inquiry began into the death of Private Cheryl James, who died at Deepcut in November 1995.
This arose after pressure group Liberty, representing Cheryl’s family, applied for a new inquest after securing access to documents which, they claim, contain significant forensic evidence that has never properly been examined.
At the original inquest into her death, an open verdict was recorded.
James was only 17 when he was found dead from a bullet wound to the head on March 23 2002. His jaw had also been broken and his body was discovered on the grass verge outside the officer’s mess.
Two other recruits, Private Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, and Private Geoff Gray, from County Durham, also died at Deepcut Barracks, in June 1995 and September 2001 respectively.
All the deaths came amid allegations violence, bullying and sexual harassment were rife at Deepcut.
Since then, it has been an ongoing battle for the parents of the soldiers to try to secure a public inquiry in to the deaths and answers to the tragedies, but Mrs Heath told The Courier she feels the inquest will “start the ball rolling”.
“James would have been aged 30 this week if he was still alive,” she said. “He would have been a fully grown man, probably with a wife and kids.”
She continued: “The previous inquest lasted three weeks but at the end of it we still didn’t have all the answers and didn’t have access to all the material. Surrey Police have said they had the relevant papers but we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for, so it made life very awkward.
“The disclosure of this information is ongoing but my gut feeling is that we will get another inquest into James’ death.”
Mrs Heath, who now lives in England, wrote a book on her son’s death, A Mother’s War, in which she revealed she had a “stumbling block” when she recalled his tragic death. It was released in May 2013.
An investigation into the deaths was launched by Surrey Police in 2002 and then followed by a report by the Audit Learning Inspectorate which called for substantial reforms in new recruits’ training.
Nicholas Blake, a deputy High Court judge, later called for an Ombudsman to be appointed for the armed forces, but rejected the Deepcut families’ calls for a public inquiry. His findings concluded privates Grey, James and Benton had committed suicide.