Private Robert Laws died after grenade hit tank (From Worcester News)

Private Robert Laws died after grenade hit tank

9:50am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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A TEENAGE soldier was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in Afghanistan, an inquest heard.

Private Robert Laws, of the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, died when the grenade penetrated his Spartan vehicle during Operation Panchai Palang, which is known as Panther's Claw, the inquest at Trowbridge Coroner’s Court was told yesterday.

Pte Laws – known as Robbie, from Rock Hill, near Bromsgrove – was inside the Spartan vehicle when it was struck by the grenade at about 5pm on July 4 last year.

Troop commander Captain Guy Disney, who was sitting in the turret of the vehicle, was also injured during the attack, losing his right leg below the knee.

“It was a good shot as the enemy hit the vehicle, killed Rob and injured me,” he said.

“My troop for the remainder of the tour came under quite a lot of RPG fire, sometimes failing equipment, sometimes inaccurate targeting – this was a good shot.”

Pte Daniel Eaglesfield, who was in the back of the armoured vehicle with Pte Laws, said all he saw after the explosion was smoke.

“My hearing and eyesight had gone because the compartment was completely filled with smoke.

“I looked around and realised that Rob looked peaceful and asleep,” he said.

Shortly after Pte Laws was killed, Lance Corporal David Dennis, 29, of The Light Dragoons, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) while on foot patrol nearby.

Both soldiers were taking part in the campaign in the north of Lashkar Gah when they died.

At the joint inquest, Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Ridley told the families of both soldiers that insurgents had begun to separate the battery pack from the explosive device by means of a wire, making them very hard to detect with the Army’s metal detectors.

The inquest was told that the area where L/Cpl Dennis was killed had been swept several times that day for IEDs but the newer, more sophisticated device – containing between 20kg to 25kg of explosives – went undetected.

The coroner recorded verdicts of unlawful killing while on active service in Afghanistan for both Pte Laws and L/Cpl Dennis, of Llanelli, South Wales.

Mr Ridley added: “I would like to sincerely thank the witnesses who came today. I appreciate it’s not easy recounting such unpleasantness where colleagues and comrades have been injured and some have lost their lives.”

Eighteen-year-old Pte Laws, a former South Bromsgrove High School pupil, leaves his parents Wendy and Steve.