Deepcut Inquiry

EDM number 1809 in 2005-06, proposed by Pete Wishart on 13/03/2006.

That this House notes that, having heard evidence given at the inquest into the death of 17 year-old Private James Collinson on 23rd March 2002, the jury has ruled out suicide and returned an open verdict; further notes that in order to prevent the recurrence of fatalities, Her Majesty's Coroner has exercised his duty to report matters raised at the inquest to the Secretary of State for Defence and urged him to `take whatever steps are necessary to restore public confidence in the recruitment and training of young soldiers whether at Deepcut or elsewhere'; further notes the Coroner's belief that matters brought to his attention `need further examination or at least balanced public exposure', his suggestion that the Minister `should have nothing to fear from an inquiry held in public where the issues can be explored in greater depth' and that the armed forces `deserve these matters to be addressed thoroughly and independently so that rumour and speculation can be met head on'; and urges the Secretary of State to respond to the Coroner without delay and announce a judicial public inquiry with sufficiently broad terms of reference to address public concern over non-combat deaths and ill-treatment issues raised at Deepcut and elsewhere.

This motion has been signed by a total of 52 MPs.