Soldier's body flown back to UK

Sgt Graham Hesketh, 35, of the 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Basra city.

Sgt Hesketh, who was born in Liverpool and grew up in Runcorn, was described as a "great asset to the Army".

His fiancee Rebecca Barnes, 25, from North Yorkshire, was believed to have met his body at RAF Brize Norton.

Miss Barnes, from Fairburn, who serves in the same regiment based at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, has been sent back to the UK on compassionate leave from her duty in Iraq.

She told the Daily Mirror that Sgt Hesketh had written to her just two days before he was killed.

She revealed that the pair had both met Tony Blair during his recent visit to Iraq on 17 December.

Sgt Hesketh became the 127th British soldier to die in Iraq on 28 December when the armoured vehicle he was commanding was targeted.

The patrol was heading towards a British Army base in the centre of Basra. There were no other casualties.

Sgt Hesketh was airlifted to a field hospital but died as a result of his injuries.

The MoD said he had a seven-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.

His body was flown back on a military plane to the RAF base in Oxfordshire on Thursday.