Funeral for Afghan blast soldier

Sjt Scott lived with his wife and two children in Edinburgh

The funeral of a North Yorkshire soldier killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan will take place later.

Serjeant Phillip Scott, 30, a gamekeeper's son from Malton, was killed in the blast in Sangin on 5 November.

The married father of two had been serving with his brother Robin in the 3rd Battalion The Rifles.

His funeral service will take place at Aske Hall Chapel near Richmond.

Sjt Scott, known as Scotty, was born in Malton and went to school in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. He lived with his wife Ellen and children Ellie, three, and one-year-old Michael in Edinburgh.

He joined the Army in 2001 and was deployed to Afghanistan in September, alongside his brother, who is also a Serjeant with the same regiment.

In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, his father Mike Scott said he had made a promise to his son to speak at his funeral.

He said: "Whatever it takes I will stand up there and do it to pay tribute to him.

"If he's been brave enough to go out there and battle on, what I have to do in there is nothing, absolutely nothing."

The Rifles continue to use the rank of serjeant - the archaic form of sergeant