Soldiers' bodies flown back home

The soldiers were taking part in a six-month tour of duty

The bodies of three Staffordshire Regiment soldiers who were killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq have been flown back to the UK.

Pte Leon Spicer, 26, and 21-year-old Pte Phillip Hewett, both from Tamworth, and 2nd Lt Richard Shearer, 26, from Nuneaton, died in Al Amarah on 16 July.

Their bodies were repatriated to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday.

The 1st Battalion troops were serving in the Maysan province of Iraq when the bomb went off.

The MoD said Lt Richard Shearer and Pte Leon Spicer were killed instantly, while Pte Phillip Hewett died of his wounds at the scene as he was receiving first aid.

Their deaths took the number of UK service personnel who have died in Iraq since the start of hostilities in March 2003 to 92.