Deepcut officers face quiz by QC

The most senior officers commanding the Army's infamous Deepcut training camp when abuses and four deaths occurred are to be forced to answer for their actions at the time.

Nicholas Blake, the QC leading the review into allegations of abuse at the Surrey camp, told the Standard that he will summon officers from the base. He said: "The Ministry of Defence has given me an undertaking that any serving soldier who refuses to attend will be disciplined."

Mr Blake's review was set up after a Surrey police report detailing 173 claims of sexual humiliation, assault, bullying and rape was leaked to the Standard. The review will be formally launched later this month.

The MoD's commitment to force officers to appear is a breakthrough for the parents of the four soldiers who died in mysterious circumstances at the base. They have long campaigned to hear from the commanders in charge of the base when their children died.

"I have met Mr Blake and I am quite encouraged," said Geoff Gray, from Hackney, whose son, also named Geoff, was found shot through the head at Deepcut in September 2001. Among

the officers likely to be brought before the review is Brigadier Clive Elderton, the commander of the Deepcut garrison at the time one of the four soldiers, James Collinson, died. Brigadier Elderton appeared on television to deny that there were any problems, but a number of the allegations in the police report relate to his time in command.