Soldier in Afghanistan was ‘unlawfully killed’ (From Worcester News)

Soldier in Afghanistan was ‘unlawfully killed’

12:00pm Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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A CORONER has ruled that an 18-year-old soldier from Bromyard was unlawfully killed in an explosion while on patrol in Afghanistan.

Coroner David Ridley said that if they were ever caught, the Taliban murderers would be charged for what they did to Rifleman William Aldridge and four of his comrades.

Rfn Aldridge, along with Rifleman James Back-house, aged 18, from Castleford, West York-shire, and Rifleman Daniel Simpson, 20, from Croydon, south London, were hit in the first of two Taliban blasts while out reassuring Afghans in Helmand Province last July.

Captain Ross Hocking told the inquest at Wiltshire Coroner’s Court yesterday that the purpose of the patrol close to the forward operating base in Wishtan, near Sangin, was to meet locals and gather information.

But as his team walked through a compound he heard a “large boom” before they came under fire.

Capt Hocking said they pushed into dead ground before coming back to deal with the first wave of casualties.

The men who were still capable began putting casualties on stretchers when the second blast detonated.

Rifleman Joseph Murphy, 18, from Castle Bromwich, West Midlands, was carrying Rfn Simpson at the time.

Corporal Jonathan “Jay” Horne, 28, from Walsall, was also fatally wounded in the blast.

Capt Hocking said: “I looked into the compound to see a lot of bodies, a lot of people on the floor and basically it was something out of a movie really.”

The grieving mothers of the five soldiers were among relatives who were at the inquest.

They have launched the charity Afghan Heroes to support other families who find themselves in the same situation.

The grandmother of Rfn Aldridge, Roberta Hamb-lin, 60, paid tribute to the group – previously dubbed “the band of mothers” – and their lost sons.

Mrs Aldridge said: “They won’t be separated again, I don’t think. They (the men) were all so young. I’m just dealing with the loss of William in my own way.”