Deepcut trainer guilty

13 April 2012

A former training instructor at the controversial Deepcut Army barracks today pleaded guilty to five sex attacks on young male soldiers.

Leslie Skinner, 46, of Marton, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, dramatically changed his plea ahead of a trial at Kingston Crown Court.

Skinner pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault relating to four male soldiers between 1992 and 1997.

Judge Charles Tilling ordered a further four counts of indecent assault and one count of rape on a male to lie on file.

The jury in the case was discharged but prosecutor Sally Howes QC told them that Skinner had "taken advantage of vulnerable young men".

Miss Howes recounted a catalogue of incidents, including one in which a young soldier was required to have anal sex with Skinner and another in which a separate victim awoke after a night's drinking to find the defendant performing a lewd act upon him.

In another incident, a soldier was taken back to a changing room at Deepcut where Skinner opened his locker to reveal a collection of masochistic implements before abusing his victim.

Miss Howes told the court that the victims had felt obliged to participate in sexual activity initiated by Skinner because he, having been a warrant officer, although later demoted to private - was in a position of authority over them.

Of one victim she said: "At no stage did he think of leaving because the consequences of disobeying an order were far greater."

Of another she said: "He said nothing for fear of being described as a homosexual because that, of course, would have been a difficulty in the armed forces in those days."

The court heard that the police investigation started when one of Skinner's victims watched a discussion on the BBC's Kilroy programme which prompted him to speak about the abuse for the first time.

Although Judge Tilling said that a custodial sentence would be "pretty much inevitable", he released Skinner on conditional bail and ordered him to return to Kingston Crown Court on October 22 for sentencing.

Although the incidents are not connected to the controversy surrounding Deepcut, where four young recruits died, the revelations look set to reignite calls for a public inquiry into events at the base.

Diane Gray, the mother of Private Geoff Gray, who died at Deepcut in September 2001, sat through today's hearing and emerged weeping.

She said outside court: "It just goes to show what's really happening down there, the kids are not safe down there.

"They will do anything they are told to do without even thinking about it."

She felt "gutted" as she listened to Miss Howes recount the catalogue of abuse but said she was relieved that the victims had not had to go through the trauma of giving evidence.

She said: "Could it have happened with ours? It makes you wonder.

"They come home, they don't want to talk about it. It just makes you wonder did it happen to them. I don't know and we'll never know."

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