A young soldier fatally shot himself at Deepcut barracks hours after he was told he would be discharged from the army, a coroner has ruled.



Pte Sean Benton, 20, was found on 9 June 1995 with five bullet wounds to his chest at the Surrey military base, moments after telling a fellow junior officer he was due to relieve her guard duty, giving him access to a weapon.

The coroner, Peter Rook QC, concluded during an eight-hour hearing at Woking coroner’s court that the death was self-inflicted.

He said the first round had injured the soldier, but that a second round, fired by Benton when two officers arrived, proved fatal.

Letters to friends and family, which were found nearby soon after, said he was upset at being discharged after a string of confrontations.

The coroner said the original investigation into the death was “woefully inadequate”. He said he was hampered by a failure to preserve evidence, poor photographs of the scene and a lack of scrutiny of witness accounts, among other factors.

He said: “Even by the standards of 1995, the investigation into Sean’s death was woefully inadequate. My own investigation has been greatly hindered by the inadequacies of the original investigation.”

Benton’s death was one of four at Deepcut barracks over seven years. The court heard how the private, originally from Hastings, had changed in attitude during his time at the army base.

The coroner said: “A common theme from former trainee colleagues is they observed a change in him ... he was not as bubbly as he used to be.”

A witness previously told the inquest: “Sean was initially happy and as time went on he laughed less ... he just stopped caring.”

This included a change in his demeanour and his appearance after he failed a military driving test, the court heard.

Rook said: “It was not just those at Deepcut that noticed a change. His mother remarked to police that he phoned home less often and described Deepcut [in February 1995] as ‘boring and repetitive’.”

The court also heard how the conduct of Sgt Andrew Gavaghan, one of Benton’s instructors, was key in the investigation into the young man’s death.

The former Deepcut instructor was alleged to have bullied Benton. Witnesses told the hearing of alleged physical and verbal abuse by Gavaghan, who was said to have an “alter ego” which he referred to as his “twin brother”. Gavaghan denied the abuse allegations.

The inquest, which began in January, came 23 years after the first hearing, held just a month after Benton’s death.

Members of the soldier’s family, including his sister Tracy Lewis and his twin brother, Tony Benton, were among those in court as the coroner began his ruling.

Rook praised the witnesses who gave evidence, along with his bereaved family. Benton’s brother and sister have been fighting on his behalf for years following the death of their mother, Linda, in May 2015.

In his final remarks, the coroner said the army had failed to properly provide appropriate welfare supervision to Benton in the weeks before his death.

“Had he been offered, and accepted such support, it is possible that Sean would not have taken the fatal action he did. However, the evidence does not establish that this would probably have been the case.”