The former commander of Deepcut Barracks, where a Scottish Army recruit died from gunshot wounds, has told an inquest he would be "absolutely horrified" to learn trainees were seriously bullied on his watch.
In March 2002, Private James Collinson,17, from Perth, died from a single gunshot wound in his head whilst performing guard duty, his body being found near the Barracks' perimeter fence.
He was one of four young soldiers to die of gunshot wounds at the Surrey barracks between 1995 and 2002.
Private Sean Benton, 20, was found with five bullets in his chest in June 1995, shortly after he had been told he was to be discharged from the Army.
An initial inquest found he killed himself, but his family have campaigned for years for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
A fresh inquest has heard the amalgamation of five corps into one, where male and female soldiers between the ages of 16 and 30 were trained together, created a "perfect storm" of Army failings.
But giving evidence at Woking Coroner's Court, retired Brigadier Paul Evans, who was in overall command of Deepcut from 1993 to 1996, claimed he was not aware of any mistreatment of soldiers.
Paul Greaney QC, representing Pte Benton's family, said the inquest had heard evidence that one non-commissioned officer (NCO) could be responsible for up to 400 trainees at the barracks and outlined alleged incidents carried out by NCOs in 1994 and 1995, including:
- Assaulting and bullying trainees.
- Doing something to deliberately humiliate a recruit, such as forcing their face into a puddle, or making a male trainee do press-ups over a female trainee.
- Screaming in the face of a trainee from a distance of one or two inches.
- Allowing a trainee to be assaulted or bullied by fellow recruits.
Brig Evans agreed any of the incidents would have been "wholly unacceptable", but insisted he was unaware of any mistreatment of recruits.
"I would be absolutely horrified to learn of an incident where there was mistreatment or bullying of any single person. Absolutely horrified," he said.
"I'm absolutely certain if bullying or mistreatment was happening or was endemic then I would know about it."
The inquest heard Brig Evans conducted a review following the death of a second recruit, Private Cheryl James, producing a report that was published on December 14 1995.
It did not identify any mistreatment, but found some aspects of the regime had "contributed to the soldiers' unhappiness".
The report said there was a "lack of awareness" of the welfare structure available for recruits, while some NCOs saw welfare staff as an "unwelcome irritation".
His report also identified low morale among recruits stemming from frequent guard duties and minor punishments dished out by NCOs.
"There was complaint about doing things like press-ups, doing an extra mile on a run or being told to clean up the barracks room again," Brig Evans told the coroner.
"There was a general feeling that they were frustrated by some of the tasks they had been given by NCOs and of course this was affecting the morale and motivation at the time."
He said there was no record made of who was punished and why, and made a recommendation to implement such a register.
Asked by Mr Greaney how he would feel if Coroner Peter Rook QC were to find bullying did occur at Deepcut under his command, Brig Evans said: "It would be, as a commander, a matter of huge regret to me, and perhaps what's slightly strange is during my lengthy discussions with soldiers while formulating my review, there wasn't a single suggestion by any soldier of bullying or mistreatment."
Brig Evans said that had he known about any mistreatment, he would have taken "very strong, immediate and appropriate action to stop it".
He added: "I remember doing it on one occasion with a group of soldiers running and an NCO who was shouting too loudly."
The coroner is due to record his verdict next month.
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