ANOTHER young soldier has been found dead at Europe's biggest Army base - the 14th since 1997.

The body of 24-year-old trainee guardsman Andrew Brown was discovered with a gunshot wound at his dormitory in Vimy barracks, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, on Monday evening.

Although his identity had not been confirmed last night, sources confirmed to The Northern Echo that the victim was Private Brown, a father-of-two, from Oxford.

Pte Brown, originally from Ireland, was assigned to the Coldstream Guards. He was engaged to be married and had two children aged three and five.

A family friend, who asked not to be named, said his mother had been informed of the death, and when his family contacted the Army they were told it was suicide.

She said: "Andrew's sister is pushing for an inquiry and his fiancee is in shock."

Last night, North Yorkshire Police confirmed they were in charge of the investigation into the death after it was reported to them on Monday.

Scene of crime officers and forensic investigators were at the base yesterday. At this stage, no other party appeared to be directly involved.

It is understood Pte Brown suffered a gunshot wound to the head and attempts were made to resuscitate him by Army personnel.

Pte Brown is the seventh soldier to be found dead from gunshot wounds at the base since 1997.

An investigation by The Northern Echo, prompted by by grieving relatives, discovered that seven other Catterick soldiers had died as a result of hanging over the same period.

Lynn Farr, whose son, Daniel, died at the base in 1997, has been calling for a public inquiry into deaths at the garrison.

She said of the latest death: "I am just horrified, I feel sick. For years I have been saying something needs to be done but it keeps on happening."

A spokesman for Catterick Garrison said Pte Brown's mother was travelling to the base last night.

He could not comment on the allegation that the family had been informed it was suicide. He said: "It is now a police investigation."

North Yorkshire coroner Geoff Fell has been informed and a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out by a Home Office pathologist yesterday afternoon.

Kevin McNamara MP, who is backing families' calls for a public inquiry into the deaths, was shocked at yesterday's news. He said: "We are not pre-judging any investigation however this man died. It is a tragedy for the family and something is going on that needs to be addressed.

"We can't understand how a young man in training can die like that."

In 2002, the Ministry of Defence announced police would take charge of investigations into unexplained deaths of soldiers. They must find hard evidence deaths are suicides before handing back responsibility to the military.

Previously, police would take on trust Army assessments that a death was suicide and military police would handle investigations.

Changes were made following the deaths of four recruits at Deepcut barracks in Surrey.

Justin Hugheston-Roberts, a solicitor representing some of the families of men who have died at Catterick, said: ''Another tragedy hits Catterick Garrison. What is going wrong at that camp?

''We've got a Defence Select Committee investigation going on at the moment so training establishments are in the spotlight and something else like this happens.

''The problems at Catterick are not going away. If this man did commit suicide, we need to know what went wrong.''