Brian Barker QC said the Surrey base had far too few officers to train and look after the young recruits, who were left bored and indisciplined.
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Pte James was discovered with a fatal head wound on November 27 1995 – one of four young soldiers to die at the training camp over a seven-year period.
Mr Barker said the Army accepted that some instructors “saw young females as a sexual challenge”.
PRIVATE Cheryl James died as a result of an intentional “self-inflicted shot” while on guard duty at Deepcut barracks, a coroner has ruled.
Speaking outside Woking Coroner’s Court, Des James, with his wife Doreen at his side, said: “While we welcome the coroner’s findings today on the environment at Deepcut, we are deeply saddened by the coroner’s conclusions, having sat through all of the evidence ourselves, listened carefully to every word, read every statement and re-read every testimony”.
“Deepcut was a toxic and frightful environment for a young woman and we have no doubt that this would have had a awful impact on those that were required to live in it”.
He said the shot was sacked at contact or near contact.
Asked if Pte James would still be here if she had not been sent to Deepcut, he said: “Yeah, of course”.
He said: “Yes there should be a public inquiry”. I wasn’t there, and I don’t think I was the only one.
“But I would stress again that if there are individuals who went through training at Deepcut or indeed elsewhere and believe that they suffered bullying or sexual harassment, that’s not been investigated they should complain”. It threatened police with legal action under the Human Rights Act, forcing them to hand over secret documents relating to the teenager’s death.
An inquest into her death recorded an open verdict.
He said: “I find that Ms James’ left hand was in contact with the rifle muzzle when the fatal shot was sacked”.
Mr Barker said the general culture of the base fell below the standard expected, saying the “haphazard provision of welfare support was insufficient”. “It seems to me that lone armed guard duty is a potentially risky activity”, Barker said.
The coroner also found that there was evidence of inappropriate sexual relationships between commanding officers or instructors and trainees.
The hearing was also told she had mixed feelings about being in the Army and often spoke with friends and other recruits about being unhappy and wanting to leave.
The second inquest into Pte James’s death started in February and has heard from more than 100 witnesses.
Mr Barker said Surrey Police had apologised and recognised that they should have taken primacy of the initial investigation in 1995.
Mr Barker said that following the assumption of suicide, the scene was compromised and not adequately investigated and ballistics tests were not carried out to see if the bullet was sacked by her rifle.
He added: “It is highly regrettable that the investigation of Ms James’ death in 1995 was not more thorough and the scene of her death not more fully and scientifically investigated”.
Mr James said it would be “corrosive” for the family to blame the Army but accused both the Ministry of Defence and Surrey Police of holding up the exploration of her death at “every juncture”.
He said: “We are truly sorry for the low levels of supervision that we provided for the trainees at Deepcut in 1995, and for the policies that were applied to using trainees for guard duties, and that we took too long to recognise and rectify the situation”.
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“I’m very concerned about what this means for us because I don’t want our inquest held in Surrey and I want a jury, because this is the views of one man, it’s one man’s opinion, where is as a jury would offer several people’s opinions”.
