An inquest into the death of a young army recruit has heard that he complained of being placed in shackles and humiliated at his training barracks before being found dead with multiple gunshot wounds.



Pte Sean Benton was the first of four young soldiers to be found shot dead at Deepcut barracks in Surrey between 1995 and 2002.

At the opening of a new inquest into Benton’s death, the coroner said he would be examining whether there were “systemic failings” at Deepcut.

Judge Peter Rook QC said he would also consider whether the 20-year-old had suffered bullying and harassment before he died, and if that had had an impact on his state of mind.

Benton’s sister, Tracy Lewis, said on Wednesday that shortly before he died he had complained of being pushed out of a window at the barracks, “although not from a great height”, as well as being “shackled and forced to parade around a canteen”.

This had left him deeply humiliated, she told the hearing in Woking, Surrey. No explanation was given at the hearing for Benton’s being shackled.

The inquest heard Benton’s family had noticed he had appeared thin and withdrawn when on leave at their home in Hastings, East Sussex, and on one occasion had cried before returning to his barracks.

He had enjoyed an earlier period of training at a different barracks but was anxious to leave Deepcut, where he had been posted to the Royal Logistic Corps. He complained that life there was tedious, Lewis said, and “doing his head in”.

The inquest heard Benton had taken an overdose of paracetamol at the age of 16 – his family said they viewed this as a “cry for help”. Lewis said she had been told nothing about a second paracetamol overdose while he was serving in the army.

Nicholas Moss, counsel for the Ministry of Defence, asked Lewis whether she was aware that her brother had been jailed for 10 days while at Deepcut. The inquest also heard he had been accused of kicking in a window.

On 9 June 1995, Benton was found dead with five bullet wounds across his chest.

The original inquest took place a month later. It followed an investigation by military police, lasted two hours and heard from six witnesses. The coroner recorded that Benton had committed suicide with an SA80 assault rifle.

The new inquest was ordered by the high court after a campaign by Benton’s family and lawyers from the human rights group Liberty. It is expected to last more than two months and will hear from 161 witnesses.

Five months after Benton’s death, Pte Cheryl James, 18, was found with a bullet wound to her head after being posted on guard duty at Deepcut. A fresh inquest concluded in 2016 that she had committed suicide.

That inquest revealed life at the barracks to be chaotic and dangerous. The trainee soldiers had unrestricted access to alcohol, little supervision and almost no welfare support.