THE grieving mothers of two soldiers who died at Europe's largest army base are to take their fight for a public inquiry to Westminister.

Lynn Farr and Claudia Beckley-Lines will attend a public meeting on Wednesday, June 18, which will call for an independent investigation into all non-combatant deaths at UK Army bases, including Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire.

Mrs Farr, whose son, Daniel, died at Catterick in 1997, will address MPs about deaths at the base and a 20-year culture of cover-ups and abuse, which was exposed by The Northern Echo last month.

She will be joined by Ms Beckley-Lines whose son, William, collapsed and died at the camp in 1998 after a forced march.

Mrs Farr said: "I have been invited to talk about Catterick Garrison and the deaths that have occurred.

"We are trying to get as many families whose children have died at Catterick to come along and speak out. We want a public inquiry into all these deaths."

The meeting has been organised by MP and former Northern Ireland spokesman Kevin McNamara and is supported by Amnesty International. The charity is also supporting the call for a public inquiry.

Led by Mr McNamara 166 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion backing calls for a nationwide examination of the way peacetime deaths are investigated.

Geoff Gray, the father of Private Geoff Gray, from Seaham, County Durham, will also attend. His son was killed from two bullets to the head at Deepcut Army base in Surrey.

Mr Gray is calling for a public inquiry into Army deaths, a move supported by The Northern Echo, following the deaths of four privates at Deepcut.

Surrey Police is investigating the deaths of Ptes Gray, James Collinson of Perth, Scotland, Cheryl James of North Wales and Sean Benton of Hastings, Sussex.

Mr Gray said: "We started off trying to find out how our son was killed. Then we found that there were three other families at Deepcut who have been affected in a similar way.

"Now we realise it's not just a Deepcut problem, it's a British Army problem."

A spokeswoman for Amnesty International said: "We are supporting the families in their calls for a public inquiry."