Daniel De Simone
BBC Home Affairs producer

The coroner has also said it was an intentional discharge and not an accident.

There was no evidence of an attacker or of any attack in Pte James's death.  

Paul Heaney
BBC News reporter

The coroner has said Pte James died from a self-inflicted wound.

"The conclusion is self infliction" says Brian Barker QC about Cheryl James' death. BUT he has rejected suicide.  

Paul Heaney
BBC News reporter

Brian Barker said there is no evidence that any other SA80 rifle was taken from the armoury. 

There is no evidence that this death was staged.  

Daniel De Simone
BBC Home Affairs producer

Brian Barker QC says the “compelling evidence" available is that the fatal shot was "contact or near contact".

The coroner says “there was soot on Ms James’s face”, meaning sooty gunshot residue. 

Coroner finds that Ms James left hand was in contact with the rifle muzzle when it was fired.

The break is over and the inquest conclusions are continuing.

We're on another short break, but the final part of the conclusions are to follow.

Tanya Gupta

Two photographs released by the coroner showed the Royal Way Gate at the barracks where Pte James was on guard duty on the morning of her death.

Image source, MOD Police

Image source, MOD Police

The photographs, from the Ministry of Defence Police, were taken in 1995.

June Kelly
BBC Home Affairs correspondent

In a BBC Two documentary, former trainee soldiers have spoken publicly about their experiences at the base. They have described a menacing atmosphere at the barracks, which was the setting for physical, sexual and racial abuse. 

Image source, Getty Images

Like Cheryl James, they were there in the mid-90s.

My report looks at how Deepcut became synonymous with bullying, brutality and sexual harassment.

After Pte James's death, there was no forensic post-mortem examination, no detailed record of the presence or absence of gunshot residue, and bullet fragments were not preserved, coroner Brian Barker said.

Her clothes were burned and interviews with those at the barracks were inadequate, he said.

"This has left unanswered questions which understandably fuelled speculation as to how Ms James died," he said.

Earlier, the coroner said Army officers and the emergency services were quick to assume Pte James's death was suicide.

He said some of those who examined the scene agreed there should have been a fuller examination.

"Although some steps were taken to limit disturbance at the scene, it was not treated as a scene of crime might be. It was not preserved," he said.

"Almost from the outset the impression from the Army and the emergency services was that this was a self-inflicted injury." 

The coroner has said there is no evidence Pte Cheryl James was unlawfully killed.

Calls were made this week for a dossier of abuse allegations at Deepcut to be re-examined as the inquest approached its conclusion.  

Image source, PA

Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon, a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, told Tuesday's Week In Week Out programme she wanted the defence secretary to ask the Army and Surrey Police what happened to soldiers who were accused by other recruits of rape, sexual and physical assaults and bullying at the base between 1995 and 2002.  

On the day the coroner retired to consider his verdict, Alison Foster QC, representing Pte James's family, said there was "no reliable foundation" for a finding that the wound was self-inflicted.

But she said the family were reconciled to the possibility of an open conclusion.

She said the precise circumstances of Pte James's death could not be known.

During the inquest, witnesses described the recruit's "bubbly and happy" demeanour on the day she died.

Civilian Army driver John Rowney, a former military policeman drove into the barracks to collect an officer and exchanged a joke with her.

Driving back minutes later, he found the gates shut and was told a soldier had been found shot. He said: "I just remember thinking it can't be that girl."

Earlier, we heard how Pte James had talked about shooting herself, but her friends thought it was just "banter".

Image source, PA

The inquest heard the recruit had chatted to a friend about the death of Pte Sean Benton which happened five months previously, and said it would be "really easy to shoot yourself".

On another occasion, she told an electrician the only way to get out of the Army would be to "put a gun to your head", but those who were with her took it as a joke.

Pte Cheryl James's father Des James, of Llanymynech, Powys, was among the first witnesses at the inquest.

Image source, James family

At the time, he said: "There's no wrong verdict for me in this."

And he said when the Army told him in 1995 his daughter had killed herself, he initially accepted its version of events because he was brought up to believe organisations like the armed services "were on your side".

Pte Cheryl James's family have fought for answers since her death in 1995.

Image source, James family

When the new inquest was ordered, her parents Des and Doreen James said they were "delighted" to have a fresh inquest.

But they added: "A meaningful inquiry into Cheryl's death is almost 20 years late."

While the inquest is adjourned, here are some more comments from Diane Gray, mother of Pte Geoff Gray, another of the four soldiers who died.

She said: "We should have known this from the very beginning, what happened to the children.

"All we asked for was the truth of what happened in the very beginning."

The coroner has adjourned for 30 minutes. He is delivering his conclusion in this second inquest into the death of Pte Cheryl James. 

Subjects covered so far have included her state of mind, the coroner's view of sex assault claims made during the inquest, and issues about the welfare of soldiers at the base.