Police criticised over Army deaths inquiry

An independent ballistics expert who investigated a series of deaths at Deepcut barracks in Surrey warned the soldiers' families yesterday not to trust the police.

Frank Swann said police stopped him carrying out vital tests, officers were not "looking as hard as they ought to be" and police tried to place a gagging order on him.

Police are investigating the deaths of four young soldiers shot dead on guard duty at the Royal Logistics Corps HQ. The deaths were considered suicides but Mr Swann said in two cases his tests proved the soldiers were killed by someone else. On a memorial website for a soldier, Mr Swann wrote: "If my experience is anything to go by, do NOT trust certain members of the Surrey Police or the military.''

Mr Swann was commissioned by BBC Scotland's Frontline programme to study the deaths. He said Surrey Police's scientist disagreed with his findings and said he would not carry out checks that Mr Swann recommended.

"I contacted Det Chief Supt Craig Denholm who denied I was ever instructed by them, even though I had been given documentation and photographs and told that I was not to show them to anyone," he wrote on the website.