Gunshot wounds killed James Collinson, Cheryl James (18), Geoff Gray (17) and Sean Benton (20) at Deepcut between 1995 and last year, leading to unprecedented scrutiny into how the army treats its young recruits.

Despite continued assertions by the Ministry of Defence that all four committed suicide, the families have never accepted their children died by their own hands — and have made repeated calls for a public inquiry.

Now independent forensic expert Frank Swann has sent them the final version of his report, four months after he released its basic conclusions.

His findings remain “inconclusive” on James Collinson, who died in March, 2002, but reject a suicide explanation for the other three soldiers.

However, although Mr Swann has explained some of his reasoning to them, the Collinson family are not to read his report until the New Year.

James’s mother Yvonne said today, “We haven’t opened our envelope yet. We’ve deliberately not read it because of the time of year.

“I don’t think that on Christmas Eve we could bear to read it and then celebrate Christmas. We’ve decided as a family that it’s better to leave it for now.”

The report reveals Mr Swann discovered that Privates Benton, James and Gray could not have killed themselves. The inconclusive nature of his findings on James Collinson, however, is based on a lack of evidence. Nevertheless, Mr Swann believes it’s unlikely the Perth teenager killed himself.

The report also concludes Cheryl James, from Llangollen, North Wales, was trying to push the gun away from her face when she was shot at the barracks.

Mr Swann, who was hired independently to investigate the deaths for the families, said, “It is my expert opinion based on the evidence, the nature of the wounds and the tests and experiments I carried out, that Private Cheryl James did not self-inflict the bullet wound that killed her.”

Her father, Des James, said, “There are so many unanswered questions for our family, and until we have them answered we cannot put this behind us.

“This is the first expert witness who has told me that Cheryl’s death was not self-inflicted. But the police say there were no third parties involved. It does not make sense. If this does not call for a public inquiry, then I don’t know what does.”

The report also found the injuries sustained by Sean Benton, who died in June, 1995, from five gunshot wounds, and Geoff Gray, who was shot dead in September, 2002, were physically impossible for them to inflict on themselves.

It has now been passed to the Surrey coroner, who was due to hold an inquest into James Collinson’s death on January 5. However, due to the fact Devon and Cornwall Police are now investigating Surrey Police’s procedures on the Deepcut deaths, the inquest has been postponed for an estimated six months.