Deepcut recruit's lover tells of his shock at her death
THE love-struck boyfriend of Private Cheryl James today described how he collapsed in a phone box after hearing the young squaddie had killed herself at Deepcut barracks.
Simeon Carr-Minns collapsed in a phone box when he heard Cheryl James had died
Simeon “Jim” Carr-Minns told an inquest he and Cheryl had talked of marriage and made plans to meet her parents.
The pair spent the night together at her Army base in Surrey two days before her alleged suicide in November 1995 and had arranged to meet on the morning she died.
But before he could return to see her, the former squaddie was told she had shot herself in the head.
The 38-year-old claimed Cheryl never showed any signs of being suicidal
The news left him “absolutely devastated” and he “collapsed” in the phone box, he said.
I broke down in tears. I was a bit of a mess. I did not get the chance to go to Deepcut
“I broke down in tears. I was a bit of a mess. I did not get the chance to go to Deepcut. I was given compassionate leave and went back home.”
When questioned in the days after her death he told detectives the pair were “madly in love” and were planning to get married.
Mr Carr-Minns, now 38, also told police that 18-year-old Cheryl never showed any signs of being suicidal, adding: “I do not know why she would have done such a thing.”
Coroner Brian Barker dismissed the idea of Carr-Minns being a suspect
The former Royal Engineer, who was based at nearby Gibraltar Barracks, told a coroner’s court in Woking, Surrey, that he went to Deepcut to plead with her to stay with him after she broke off their two-month relationship to see another soldier.
Even though he later found her in bed with Private Paul Wilkinson, the pair slept together the following night. When they parted on the Sunday morning she asked him to come back and visit her on Monday – the day she died.
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Previously the inquest heard evidence from a 2002 review by Surrey Police of the original investigation into Cheryl’s death which said Mr Carr-Minns “should be considered a suspect”.
Coroner Brian Barker today dismissed the accusation and said he was not under suspicion. Cheryl, from Llangollen, North Wales, was the second of four young recruits to die in mysterious circumstances at the Army base between 1995 and 2002.
The teenager was found dead with a single bullet wound at Deepcut barracks
She was found dead from a single bullet wound to her head close to the gate where she was on sentry duty at the time. A first inquest into her death recorded an open verdict but this was quashed by the High Court.
The hearing continues.