A soldier was found dead with gunshot wounds at an army barracks, police said today.

The 24-year-old trainee Coldstream Guard was found in a dormitory at Vimy Barracks, at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, yesterday.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: ''Initial witness accounts indicate that no other party appears to be directly involved.'' He said officers were carrying out an investigation at the barracks and a post mortem examination was due later today.

The spokesman said: ''At 4.45pm yesterday police were called to Vimy Barracks, at Catterick Garrison, where a 24-year-old man had been found dead in his dormitory.

''The man, who had suffered gunshot wounds, was a trainee guardsman with the Coldstream Guards.

''North Yorkshire Police are investigating the incident and scenes of crime and other investigators are at the scene.

''The coroner has been informed and the post-mortem will be conducted later today by a Home Office pathologist.''

The huge Catterick Garrison, near Richmond, has been the focus of concerns about the number of young soldiers who have died there. Some families have joined with those campaigning for a public inquiry into deaths at Deepcut Barracks, in Surrey.

Today, Geoff Gray, whose son Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Seaham, Durham, died at Deepcut, repeated his call for an inquiry.

He said: ''There must be an inquiry into non-combat deaths in the British Army.

''If this man committed suicide, there's a reason for it."

Mr Gray added: ''If anything, the problem at Catterick is worse than at Deepcut.''