DETECTIVES investigating the death of a North-East soldier said last night there was no evidence so far that a third party had been involved.

Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Denholm, head of Surrey Police CID, told a briefing on the progress of the year-long inquiry: "As yet, we have no evidence of third-party involvement."

Surrey Police are investigating the deaths of Private Geoff Gray, 17, of Seaham, County Durham, and three others at Deepcut Barracks, in Surrey.

Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, Sussex, James Collinson, 17, from Perth, and Cheryl James, 18, from Wales, also died at the camp.

Relatives are demanding a public inquiry into the deaths and have hired independent forensic expert Frank Swann to investigate.

Mr Denholm said there had been a number of allegations that had arisen as a result of the continuing investigation into the deaths, including claims of male and female rape. These are understood not to relate to Deepcut itself and are not related to the deaths.

He said: "There are other allegations that have been made that we are linking with other police forces to see whether they have been investigated before."

He said the police had made some recommendations to the Army as a result of the investigation and that the Army was "looking at their practice in relationship to training camps".

Mr Denholm declined to say whether the inquiry, which has taken more than 850 statements from people, had identified a culture of bullying at the barracks.