THE Government has again rejected calls for a public inquiry into the deaths of four soldiers at Deepcut Barracks.

Yesterday’s announcement angered parents of the soldiers, who all died of bullet wounds in separate incidents at the Surrey barracks between 1995 and 2002.

Speaking after the publication of military Board of Inquiry reports, Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth said: “Given the range of investigations that have now taken place, we do not believe there is any wider public or service interest in pursuing one.”

Private Geoff Gray, 17, originally from Seaham, County Durham, died from two gunshot wounds to his head in September 2001. An inquest recorded an open verdict.

The Board of Inquiry agreed with the inquest verdict, Mr Ainsworth said in a written statement to the House of Commons yesterday.

It supported the 2006 findings of the Blake Review into the Deepcut deaths that there was no substantial evidence supporting third party involvement in Pte Gray’s death, he said.

Pte Gray’s family has always maintained someone else was involved.

His father, also called Geoff, said: “I am pretty sure that someone who was there the night Geoff died knows something more, and they’re scared to come forward.”

Mr Gray, 45, of Hackney, east London, said he promised his dead son that he would do “everything in my power to find out what happened that night”.

He said he was bitterly disappointed by the decision not to launch a public inquiry.

“On a day when MPs are being lampooned left, right and centre, you would have thought a minister could have stood up and done the right thing,” he said.

“There is new evidence there in the report and they have just dismissed it.

“It is frustrating beyond belief. I’m so disappointed.”

He said information in the Board of Inquiry about another soldier having a “warm”

weapon on the night of his son’s death should be investigated further.

The report also mentions the sighting of a shadowy figure near the area where Pte Gray’s body was found.

Mr Gray said: “There are no real answers to these things, which is why we need a public inquiry.”

He will meet solicitors next week to discuss the possibility of getting a new inquest.