The Hackney family of Private Geoff Gray, who died at the Army’s infamous Deepcut Barracks in 2001, has won a High Court action for a new inquest into his death.
The victory comes after a substantial volume of new evidence – including 16,000 pages submitted by the Surrey Police in 2015 – was put before the court.
Gray’s family hope the result will shed new light on the circumstances surrounding the death of the 17-year old, whose body was found with gunshot wounds to his head. The coroner recorded an open verdict and said: “I do not think he took his own life.” The family have campaigned for a full inquiry since then.
The ruling on Tuesday came despite the fact that the Government had previously ruled out any public inquiry into Gray’s case and three similar deaths at Deepcut.
His father, also called Geoff Gray, told EastLondonLines: “This is a story about 4 young recruits signing up to serve their country and who were shot dead in very mysterious circumstances. All we want is the truth now.”
His parents have not received any form of legal aid from the Government in their battle for a fresh inquiry and relied upon unpaid help from lawyers.
“Families in inquests should have legal aid whenever the state are represented” argues John Cooper QC #newsnight pic.twitter.com/qy7qgBJKBq
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 28, 2017
His parents have lived in Hackney for many years and although they separated four years ago stressed that they jointly supported the fight to explain what happened to their son. Geoff Gray added: “We have received a lot of support from our neighbours in Hackney all these years. It’s a very supportive community.
“We’ve fought tooth and nail to get this far. We have had zero funding, not help whatsoever from the Government or the Ministry of Defence; we have been extremely lucky that John [Cooper QC] has been helping us for the last 16 years for free.
“I’m trying to get the truth of what actually happened to Geoff” says Diane Gray whose son died at the Deepcut army barracks 16 years ago #newsnight pic.twitter.com/IwuGUFATpj
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 28, 2017
Private Gray was discovered with two gunshot wounds to his head while he was on guard duty in September 2001.
His case is one the “Deepcut Four” – four similar deaths that occurred between 1995 and 2002 at the Deepcut Barracks, involving trainee soldiers in the same phase of their training who all died from gunshot wounds.
The investigations led by the Royal Military Police and the Surrey Police both concluded with suicide verdicts, which were rejected by the families of all four soldiers. All the families have continued to call for fresh inquests.
Yes if state apparatus is involved for example, NHS ambulances and staff, Police, Fire services, and Military personel during these incidents at Deepcut barracks including subsequent investigations then the state is responsible to provide adequate support for bereaved familes as tax payers money is used in all these deaths. It is preposterous that successive Labour and Conservative governments did not offer support. Behaviour such as this only feeds further resentment and motivation to fight for truth and justice.