Women Soldiers Treated as ‘Sexual Challenge’ by Deepcut Instructors

4 shooting deaths in 7 years, all recruits

© Carl De Souza / AFP

Female recruits at the notorious Deepcut army barracks were seen as a “sexual challenge” by instructors, an inquest into the 1995 death of 18-year-old Cheryl James has heard.

More details of the misogynistic, abusive culture of the army facility where four recruits were found dead from bullet wounds between 1995 and 2002 have emerged as Brigadier John Donnelly was questioned by lawyers.

Donnelly, who is head of army personnel services, was questioned by Alison Foster QC, representing the James family, on a report into Deepcut after the deaths.

Deepcut Barracks, Royal Logistics Corp, British Army

The report, Foster said, appeared to blame women recruits for the sexualized culture of the facility, calling them “extremely promiscuous.” No similar comments were made about men, she added, despite an unlocked room allegedly being put aside for male soldiers’ sexual activity.

“Would you accept there was a heavily sexualized atmosphere at Deepcut?” she asked Donnelly.

“There was certainly a sexualized atmosphere at Deepcut, yes,” he said.

Donnelly conceded the army did not have a proper duty of care structure in place and that in 1995 there had been “a certain element of misogyny in the army.”

“Sadly not everyone subscribed to our set of values,” he said.

“It is not an aspect that’s unique to the armed forces, but I recognize there are certain aspects of military culture that accentuate that.”

Other witnesses from the period came forward to shed light on Cheryl James’s plight in the weeks before her death.

Jane Warboys, who trained with James, said that while posted to the defense driving school in Leconfield near Hull, James had been chased around a desk by a sergeant who locked the office door and made inappropriate sexual advances.

Warboys said “there was no one appropriate” to tell, and that they “didn’t know who to report it to” in any case.

Warboys was on duty the night James was found dead on guard duty at the remote back gate of Deepcut Barracks. She recalled that a civilian security guard laughed when the shot rang out, joking that James had killed herself.

Another Deepcut trainee, Fran Durnall, said James had been victimized with “rubbish jobs” after a troop sergeant found his own advances were “not reciprocated.”

“My personal understanding was he did have a thing [for her], a shine, and she didn’t reciprocate it. And that is when the bad jobs started happening. He knew she didn’t like him,” Durnall told the inquest.

The unnamed sergeant denied similar claims during an inquiry in 2006.

“I hardly knew her. I had no interest in her. I don’t know why trainees would suggest I did any of these things. I can assure you I did not,” he said at the time.

Brigadier Donnelly also admitted that James should never have been on guard because official policy forbade women from doing lone sentry duties, and that the military had not assessed the risks of giving young people loaded guns given the higher than normal suicide risks.

The inquest continues.

Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut, UK

Teen UK Army Recruit Found Dead ‘May Have Been Sexually Assaulted’

Explosive new evidence from the shooting death of female British Army recruit Cheryl James suggests she may have been raped or sexually coerced the night before she died.

Pvt Cheryl James © AparatMediaTV / YouTube

Private Cheryl James, 18, was found dead from gunshot wounds in November 1995 at the notorious Deepcut Barracks in the UK county of Surrey, the site of four deaths thought to be suicides during a seven-year period.

In a pre-inquest submission, the James family barrister Alison Foster told Woking Coroner’s Court that Cheryl “may have been sexually coerced or raped the night before... her death”.

“There is now a direct allegation that Cheryl might have been ordered to sleep with the person we are calling Witness A by someone superior in rank to her,” wrote Foster. “This new material gives a sinister and very different slant involving the pressure of third parties on persons to have sexual intercourse or other relations against their will. This gives a climate or culture that can promote desperation and desperate emotions and matters highly relevant to her state of mind.”

An open verdict recorded at the initial inquest in December 1995 was set aside by a judge in 2014 on the grounds that no witnesses were called and no forensic tests were carried out on Private James’ clothing, the rifle, or the bullet.

Family members hold portraits of their soldier relatives David James Shipley (L),
 Geoff Gray (C) and James Collinson (R) as they face the media following
 a meeting demanding a full enquiry into the deaths in Westminster, London,
October 29, 2002. © Stephen Hird / Reuters

Her body was subsequently exhumed, with bullet fragments being recovered, before it was later re-interred.

The new inquest is due to start next month and legal representatives of the family hope these fresh allegations will be deemed admissible.

Liberty Legal Officer and solicitor Emma Norton said: “We have received new evidence that Cheryl was ordered by an officer to have sex with a private the night before she died. In light of that, we are asking the Coroner to consider the evidence of some other witnesses who complain of sexual coercion at Deepcut at the same time.”

There appears to be grounds for hope on the part of the James family with coroner Brian Barker admitting he would consider the new submissions.

“Whether Cheryl was subject to sexual abuse or pressure may fall within the scope of this inquest,” he said.

Deepcut Barracks has long been the subject of allegations such as abuse of power by senior ranking army officials, bullying of recruits, and sexual misconduct.

Privates Sean Benton, James Collinson and Geoff Gray also died from gunshot wounds at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002 with their families repeatedly calling for a full public inquiry into the treatment of recruits at the base.