A BLACKPOOL father trying to find out how his son died at a notorious army barracks says defence secretary Geoff Hoon has told him his questions will be answered.

Joseph McGregor, of King Edward Avenue, North Shore, said he 'bumped into Mr Hoon in a Commons corridor' on Monday, while he was visiting Parliament with relatives of soldiers found dead at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, and Deepcut Barracks, Surrey.

"That seems to be the way things are done in Westminster - you just meet people in corridors," Mr McGregor said.

"Geoff Hoon was fully of sympathy and he said he will get the matter dealt with.

"Joan Humble, my MP, asked him in the House of Commons about me and my son, and when was I going to get any answers? He said he will get on the case and he will get to the bottom of it all."

Mr McGregor's 21-year-old son, Lt Corp Derek McGregor, was stationed at Catterick Garrison for just three weeks before he was found dead on July 7, 2003. He was the thirteenth soldier to die at the base since 1996.

Since then, Mr McGregor has been a leading campaigner for public inquiries into non-combat army deaths, particularly at Catterick, and Deepcut - where four soldiers died between 1995 and 2000.

Mr McGregor said two investigations, and an ongoing inquest, have so far failed to answer any of his questions about his own son's death - pronounced by the army as suicide. But he is also tormented by his son's claim that he had been beaten up at Catterick in the time leading up to his death.

"To me there's one law in this land and everybody's got to abide by it but the army doesn't; it seems to be a law unto itself," said Mr McGregor.

He said he is considering legal action against the government or army. "I want answers to my questions and then after that I'm going to sue the boss. I will not let this rest," he said.

Mr McGregor said he has now been invited to attend central London's Remembrance Day parade next month, and he hopes to attend a meeting of the government's defence select committee on December 5.

And 'perhaps the biggest meeting yet' of Deepcut and Catterick victims' families is being planned in Blackpool for January, he added.

"We want to keep this in the public eye. We are in it for the long haul," he said.

He was in London on Monday with a 'battle bus' of around 70 relatives of Deepcut and Catterick soldiers who had died in non-combat situations. The families carried pictures of their loved ones, listened to defence questions in the Commons and lobbied MPs during the visit.