THE family of a North-East soldier found dead at Deepcut barracks have called for a new inquest after they were handed thousands of pages of new evidence.

Private Geoff Gray, 17, of from Seaham, County Durham, was found dead at the Surrey base in September 2001 with two gunshot wounds to the head.

Geoff and Diane Gray believe their son was murdered and did not take his own life, as one previous investigation concluded.

An inquest recorded an open verdict.

Now Mr Gray believes the family could finally be close to a breakthrough after an “incredible” volume of evidence was disclosed to him for the first time.

Mr Gray said: “We’ve got more than 16,000 pages from Surrey Police that we have never seen before.

“I can’t go into what I’ve seen, but is is all stuff that was not seen by the coroner at the original inquest into Geoff’s death.

“The original inquest had 20 pages, but now we have 16,000, it is incredible. We were very, very naive we should have had representation.

"It is pretty definite that we will be making an application to have a new inquest.”

At the time there were reports that a man was seen running away from the area and that Pte Gray’s body had been moved after he died.

A spokesman for Surrey Police said: "In April 2014 Surrey Police received a request from counsel representing the family of Private Geoff Gray who died at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut in 2001, to disclose all material relating to the investigating into his death.

“The force agreed to this request on a voluntary basis and is in the process disclosing of documents relating to Private Gray.

Surrey Police also received similar requests for disclosure from representatives of the families of Private Cheryl James, Private Sean Benton and Private James Collinson who died at the Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1995 and 2002.

“The force has as a dedicated team to complete disclosure as quickly and effectively as possible to meet the families’ requests and prepare for any High Court hearings or possible new inquests in the future.”

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of all four young soldiers who died at the Princess Royal Barracks between 1995 and 2002.

“Surrey Police is not reinvestigating the deaths, but is committed to providing disclosure to the families through their legal teams and will provide the appropriate support for any potential inquests in the future.”