PRINCESS Anne walked into a storm of protest when she visited Deepcut barracks yesterday.

Families of soldiers who died in mysterious circumstances at the Surrey barracks staged a demonstration to protest at her visit yesterday.

The Ministry of Defence faced calls by MPs to explain why the Royal tour had gone ahead while the deaths were still being investigated by police.

Detectives are re-examining evidence relating to the deaths of four privates, all of whom died from gunshot wounds and served at Deepcut.

The Princess Royal was visiting the Royal Logistics Corps to mark its tenth anniversary, in her role as the corps' colonel-in-chief.

Families and politicians have voiced their disapproval over the visit.

The protest was led by North-East father Geoff Gray, whose soldier son, also called Geoff, died from two shots to the head in September 2001.

As the royal cavalcade arrived at the barracks, the small group held up 4ft pictures of the soldiers who died.

Mr Gray said: ''We wanted to hold a dignified and peaceful protest - just to let her know.

"With investigations into the deaths of soldiers ongoing, we felt the timing of the princess's visit was completely inappropriate. They should have postponed this celebration."

The families' stance has been previously backed by Labour MP for Hull North, Kevin McNamara, who had called upon the Government to postpone the visit.

In a letter to Minister of State for the Armed Forces Adam Ingram, he said he was disappointed that "the families of soldiers who lost their lives in still unexplained circumstances at Deepcut could not have been spared the distress of having their grief so casually disregarded".

He continued: "For the ten-year history of the camp to be a cause for celebration while the cause of death of four young soldiers remains the subject of police investigation is a grave error of judgement."

He said 174 members of Parliament from all parties had signed his Early Day Motion calling for an independent inquiry into the deaths.

Surrey Police are re-ex-amining evidence relating to the deaths of Privates Gray, 17, from Seaham, County Durham; Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex; James Collinson, 17, from Perth; and Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen, North Wales.

All died from gunshot wounds and inquests recorded either open verdicts or suicide.

Relatives have demanded a public inquiry into the deaths and have hired an independent forensic expert who spent more than six weeks at the barracks.

Surrey CID said recently there was no evidence of any third-party involvement in the deaths. Its officers are also investigating an allegation of male rape at the barracks.

Also attending the protest were Jim and Yvonne Collinson, whose son, James, died at Deepcut, as well as Pte Gray's grandfather, Tom Moreland.