THE threads of familiarity are all too apparent.

Tales of ambitious soldiers, with a love of Army life, being found dead after allegedly committing suicide, are stories that no longer surprise Geoff Gray.

Mr Gray, the father of Private Geoff Gray, of Seaham, County Durham, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances at Deepcut Barracks, Surrey, in September 2001, has been contacted by families of dead soldiers across the country.

They all tell similar stories: that their children loved the Army, they were happy, but now they are dead. The armed forces, they claim, have told them that their sons and daughters took their own lives.

It is these stories, and the controversy over Mr Gray's son's death, and the deaths of three other soldiers at the same barracks, that has led to questions being asked about deaths at other Army bases.

Unable to rest until he finds out the truth, Mr Gray wants a public inquiry into the way the Army handles sudden deaths.

He has enlisted the help of former Northern Ireland spokesman MP Kevin McNamara to compile a dossier of deaths that they hope to present to Government ministers in an attempt to get answers.

The mysterious events at Deepcut have opened the floodgates to questions on what is happening to young people in the Army.

Surrey Police are re-investigating the deaths of four privates at the Army base after mounting pressure from loved ones, who do not believe that the soldiers killed themselves.

Pte Sean Benton, 20, of Hastings, East Sussex, was found dead at Deepcut with five gun wounds to the chest in 1995. Four shots were made from long-range, one from short range, all made from an angle above him, yet it was claimed that the soldier committed suicide.

Less than five months later, Pte Cheryl James, 18, from Llangollen. Wales, was found dead in woodland near the base's perimeter fence. Her rifle was discovered next to her and she had suffered a bullet wound to the head. The verdict was suicide, which her family strongly contests.

Then came Mr Gray's son. The 17-year-old, who always wanted to be a soldier, had been shot twice.

Next, last March, Pte James Collinson, 17, of Perth, Scotland, died from a single shot to the head while on guard duty. Again, suicide was reported.

Since then, Mr Gray and his wife, Diane, have found more families.

The relatives of two soldiers at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, Pte Alan Sharples and Pte Richard Robertson, told The Northern Echo they did not believe their sons had committed suicide, after they, too, died from gunshot wounds.

Mr Gray now hopes that his calls for a public inquiry will be answered and that the mysterious deaths at Army bases will come to an end.