Mother of soldier who died after punishment exercise: 'Both of us trusted the Army to look after him'

The proudest day of my life was when I saw my son Gavin come out on parade in uniform after he joined the British Army in November 2005, in the footsteps of his grandfather. I know that Gavin felt the same way, and both of us trusted the Army to look after him. Less than nine months later in July 2006, I was forced to look at my son as he lay asleep, never to wake up again: that was the worst moment of my life, and I see that moment in my head every single day.

What happened to Gavin was wrong, plain and simple: he was killed by the way in which his fellow soldiers chose to punish him unlawfully - to "beast" him - for nothing other than a silly prank. Over the 6 weeks of the inquest I heard for myself the other in which the Army allowed that to happen and what it meant in reality. I know that the nature of that "beasting" was so inhuman and degrading that it cannot be tolerated in any civilised world.