A teenage army recruit who was found dead at a British barracks more than 20 years ago may have been raped or ordered by a superior to have sex, an inquest has been told.  Pte Cheryl James, 18, was one of four young soldiers who died of gunshot wounds as claims of bullying or abuse at the Deepcut barracks in Surrey circulated.  A new, full inquest is due to begin before a jury next month, but a barrister for James’s family told a preliminary hearing that new evidence had come to light.  Alison Foster QC told the hearing at Woking coroner’s court she had material suggesting James “may have been sexually coerced or raped the night before, or before the time of her death”.  She said: “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.This is not fraternising. This is not an illicit sexual relationship between two young people across the ranks. This is something quite different.  “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, and the culture in which such matters could continue.”  Foster also told the coroner that she would present evidence of “manipulation within the chain of command”.  James’s family want the scope of a new inquest into the teenager’s death to be widened to take account of new testimony, which they argue sheds new light on her state of mind.  James, from from Llangollen, north Wales, was found dead with a bullet wound to her head in November 1995 while she was undergoing initial training at the barracks.  She was one of four soldiers who died at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002. Privates Sean Benton, James Collinson and Geoff Gray also died from gunshot wounds.  An open verdict was returned on James’s death after a hearing lasting just an hour in December 1995. Last year, however, the high court quashed the verdict and ordered a new inquest to be held. It is due to last seven weeks.  Following the high court’s decision, James’s family called for her body to be exhumed for further testing. This was done and bullet fragments were recovered. Her body was reburied with her family present after a short ceremony.  The full inquest is due to consider whether a third party was involved in James’s death and what happened on the evening before she died.  It will also address whether there were shortcomings with barrack policies on sexual behaviour, supervision of young females, drugs, alcohol and accommodation.  Coroner Brian Barker QC said he would make a written ruling on whether to widen the scope of the inquest in the next few weeks.  Nicholas Moss, representing the Ministry of Defence, said that the material put forward by James’s family was nothing new and cautioned against conducting “satellite investigations”, saying it was inappropriate to look into other cases during the inquest. He said: “This cannot be dressed as new evidence, it is evidence that has been there all along.”  The full inquest will refocus attention on culture within the army in recent years. Last week it apologised for its treatment of Pte Gavin Williams, 22, who died after undergoing a gruelling “beasting” punishment at a barracks in Wiltshire.
Lawyer for private’s family tells pre-hearing ahead of full inquest that she has new evidence to support the claim