Iraq job to pay for child's limbs

Lydia needs legs costing £7,000 every time she has an operation

A man has taken a job as a security guard in Iraq so he can buy prosthetic limbs for his daughter, whose legs were amputated after she caught meningitis.

Tony Cross, from Braunton, Devon, said he had quit his job in the Royal Marines to take-up the new position.

He said the job was well paid and that his five-year-old daughter Lydia needed the money to survive.

She needs new prosthetic legs which are not available on the NHS and cost £7,000 each time she has an operation.

It is more dangerous than he thought Jodie Cross

Mr Cross left the Army last month and has been in Iraq since 22 September.

The 37-year-old, who was a commando attached to the Royal Marines stationed at their base at Chivenor, said the new job paid three times as much as his previous one.

"I would never had put myself in for something like this if it didn't pay that amount of money. That's what Lydia requires - she needs that money to back her up," he said.

"It's the job I've been doing for 14 years and I think I'm clever enough and experienced enough to see when things are going bad and what to do about them."

He also said with his previous job he would be required to change location every three years and he did not want his daughter to keep having to explain to new people what happened to her legs.

Attacked by mortars

His wife Jodie said he has already been involved in extremely dangerous and life-threatening situations.

"It is more dangerous than he thought," she said.

"When I was in hospital with Lydia he was with a convoy carrying high explosives through Basra when they were attacked by mortars.

"But I put it from my mind as much as possible, I have two daughters here to worry about."