Parents of Perth soldier shot dead at Deepcut Barracks end bid for hearing

The parents of a Perth solider who was found shot dead at Deepcut Barracks have today ended their attempts for a fresh inquest.

James Collinson was one of four young recruits who died at the Surrey army base between 1995 and 2002.

The original inquest into the 17-year-old's death ended in an open verdict - new inquiries have since been held into the deaths of the other three soldiers.

In a statement mum Yvonne and dad Jim said: After years of waiting, watching and supporting the other Deepcut families, we have made the very difficult decision to withdraw from the process of seeking a fresh inquest into our son, James’s death.

"We had always hoped that we might one day have the chance to have a further inquiry... but, three years on from the first fresh Deepcut inquest into the death of Pte Cheryl James in 2016, we have seen and reflected upon the toil that these inquests have had upon the other Deepcut families.

"We are getting older now and have grandchildren to help raise and lives to lead. Our health is not good.

"Neither of us has the emotional or physical strength to sit silently through months of evidence about our son, listening to barristers who never knew him attempt to persuade a court that, notwithstanding the absence of evidence, our child was, probably, secretly suicidal and had simply kept this hidden from us."

Journalist Barry Keevins has been following the case for the past 16 years, he isn't surprised at today's decision.

"James's mum has been a frequent visitor to the first three inquests and knows full well what the process is and how grueling it can be," he said.

"How stressful and emotional it can be for the families involved. I always wondered if it might be a decision she would come to.

"When you're faced with the prospect of an inquest that could last two months, an inquest that you've seen three other families go through, it doesn't surprise me that Yvonne might not think that she's willing to put herself through that."

Mr Keevins adds there's still many question marks around the 17-year-old's death.

"When all four of them died there was very little done in the way of investigating. There was very little done in the way of evidence gathering, statement taking or anything like that.

"Everything that you would need to base opinions on is going to be tempered by the fact that there's very little to go on."

James Collinson's parents added they hold the British Army responsible for his death.

"We wholeheartedly and unreservedly blame the MoD for ignoring, year after year and death after death, the evidence that showed that our children were left poorly supervised, with dreadful instructor to trainee ratios, in an unsafe, unpleasant and at times, as the inquest into Sean Benton’s death showed, deeply abusive environment.

"We will never be able to forgive them. We have asked for, and are told we will receive, formal apologies from both the MoD and Surrey Police for their failures."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "Any death is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the families and friends of those who died at Deepcut Barracks."

Surrey police said it is in the process of issuing a formal apology to the family.

Surrey Police acknowledges and has previously accepted the mistakes made during our initial investigation into deaths at Deepcut Barracks, which has resulted in further suffering for the families," a spokesperson said.

"This is a matter of deep regret. For the past five years, the Force has worked to fully support each of the new coronial processes with a dedicated team of officers disclosing thousands of documents.

"We respect the decision of the Collinson family and are in the process of issuing a formal apology to them."