High Court appeal over Deepcut soldier's death

The family of a soldier who died at the Deepcut army base is mounting a legal case against the Government in an effort to have the inquest reopened.

The parents of Geoff Gray, a 17-year-old recruit who died in 2001, will instruct lawyers to apply for a judicial review at the High Court. The teenager was one of four young privates who died at the base between 1995 and 2002 in suspicious circumstances. The others were James Collinson, 17, Sean Benton, 20, and Cheryl James, 18.

This is the latest attempt by the Deepcut families to establish the truth about how their children died. They have challenged official reports that all four took their own lives.

On Friday, a Surrey coroner backed calls for an official probe after jurors recorded an open verdict at the inquest into the death of recruit James Collinson.

The Gray family says the original inquest - which was carried out in just three hours - was based on flawed evidence and that new findings have now come to light. This includes allegations of physical abuse.

Mr Gray said: "The original inquest was based on a flawed investigation, which has now been proven because new evidence has come to light from the police. The reason we are doing this is to get at the truth about what happened to Geoff. It is the only reason that we are carrying on."