"No Deepcut Closure Without Full Disclosure" - Öpik

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 3rd May 2006

"The families have conducted a passionate and painful campaign with enormous dignity and astonishing courage."

Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, today renewed his call for Government action over the deaths of the four recruits who died at the Deepcut Army Barracks between 1995 and 2002.

In a Westminster Hall debate this afternoon Mr. Opik, the constituency MP for Des and Doreen James, whose daughter Cheryl died at Deepcut in 2005, called on the Minister for the Armed Forces to:

• Ensure the full disclosure to the Deepcut families of the Devon & Cornwall Police report into Surrey Police's Deepcut investigation.

• Listen to representations from the parents about their views on the case for a public inquiry.

• Establish an independent Armed Forces Ombudsman to deal with military complaints.

In his speech, Mr. Opik paid tribute to the Deepcut parents, saying they had "conducted a passionate and painful campaign with enormous dignity and astonishing courage."

On the issue of disclosure, Mr. Opik said, "It is a scandal that the Devon & Cornwall Police report into the Surrey Police has not been made available to the parents. A full seven months after Devon and Cornwall handed their report to the Surrey Police, all the parents have seen is a 3-page summary of a 150 page report."

He went on to say he was concerned that the resistance to volunteer full disclosure of the police report hinted at "a culture of secrecy," and called on the Minister "to work with his colleagues in the Home Office to ensure that the Devon and Cornwall police report is disclosed in full to the Deepcut families."

Mr. Öpik warned that the Government should not regard the Blake Review as an endpoint: "It would be a bad mistake to regard this as 'case closed' in terms of public interest, and in terms of respect for the wishes of the parents, who, after all, deserve breathing space as they seek to absorb this massive report.

"Before the Blake Review the families believed that a properly conducted Public Inquiry, with the power to compel witnesses to appear, was the only way of truly getting to the bottom of the Deepcut deaths. They continue to do so."

Mr. Öpik also called on the Government to fully implement Mr. Blake's recommendation that an Armed Forces Ombudsman be established and appointed: "The Ministry of Defence is adamant that the problems that affected Deepcut so severely are things of the past. But according to the latest Army Continuous Attitude Survey, 8% of Soldiers say they've been bullied in the last 12 months. That's more than 7,000 personnel. Of those Soldiers who complained about unfair treatment, discrimination, harassment or bullying, more than three-quarters were not satisfied with the way the complaint was handled.

"In light of this I'm joining the calls made by the other honourable members today that the Government should move immediately to establish an Armed Forces Ombudsman. "

Notes:

Mr. and Mrs. James are Mr. Öpik's constituents.

Four young recruits, including Cheryl James, died at the Deepcut Army Barracks between 1995 and 2002. The Surrey police investigated these four deaths in 2002/2003. Subsequently, in October 2003, the Devon & Cornwall Police were commissioned to investigate the manner in which the Surrey Police had conducted their investigation. The Devon & Cornwall Police completed their investigation at the end of August 2005.

The Devon & Cornwall Police report has been issued to the IPCC, to Nicholas Blake, and to the Surrey Coroner. It has also been issued to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Surrey Police Authority. So far the Deepcut parents have only been given access to a three page executive summary. The report is 150 pages long.