ANNA SMITH COLUMN: Let's cut right to the truth

HOW many soldiers have to die before somebody grabs the army by the scruff of the neck and gives it a good shake?

The families of four squaddies shot dead at Deepcut barracks have had a painful journey to get to the heart of what stinks of a cover- up by army top brass. And they have a long way to go.

The announced parliamentary probe into the apparent suicides will never get to the truth.

Anyone who thinks there is a chance of such an establishment set- up coming up with anything other than a whitewash must have missed the Hutton report.

The army is sticking to the suicide line after its own investigation. This probe, I imagine, was staffed by officers serving only the army interest, reporting back to puffed-up top brass working out with furrowed brows how to limit the damage.

But Jim and Yvonne Collinson, from Perth, are adamant that someone else pulled the trigger the night their son Private Jim Collinson died on guard duty in March 2002.

He was the fourth to die at Deepcut. All suicide? I think not. How can you shoot yourself five times in the chest? Or twice in the head?

A forensic expert in ballistics hired by the victims' families last year concluded it was unlikely the recruits committed suicide.

Now a full, independent public inquiry is the only way to get to the heart of what is rotten inside Deepcut.

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