THE father of a North-East soldier who died in mysterious circumstances at Deepcut Barracks has dismissed an announcement over its possible closure as a "diversionary" tactic to draw attention away from the real issue of a public inquiry.

Geoff Gray, 39, said the decision to include the Surrey Army base on a list of eight sites which may be closed was a "knee-jerk" reaction by the Ministry of Defence, which cannot afford to be the subject of such an investigation.

Mr Gray, whose son Private Geoff Gray, 17, formerly of Seaham, County Durham, died while on guard duty at Deepcut, said: "The only way to sort this out is to have a public inquiry into what is going on down there and to have a wider remit to look into non-combat deaths throughout the entire British Army.

''If they shut the place down what happens then, can we still have the inquiry?

"I believe they are trying to thwart it from happening - it's just one of a long string of things aimed at diverting from the real crux of things."

"We have obviously opened up a can of worms here and it needs to be looked into.

"And it's not just a Deepcut problem.

"The public perception of the MoD and the Army has been shattered and the only way to regain the public confidence is to have a public inquiry."

Detectives are continuing to investigate the deaths of Private Gray and three other soldiers - all found with gunshot wounds at Deepcut, the headquarters of the Royal Logistics Corps.

The Army initially insisted the deaths, between 1995 and earlier this year, were suicides - a claim disputed by the victims' families.

They are now demanding an immediate public inquiry into allegations that a culture of bullying has been covered up.

The base was included in the list of those that might lose out in an MoD review aimed at "rationalising" training - including the possibility of involving the private sector.

An MoD spokeswoman said the possible closure of Deepcut had nothing to do with the recent events.

She said: "This was all set out in the Strategic Defence Review long before any investigations into conduct at Deepcut.