Funerals for soldiers shot in Afghanistan

Two communities were in mourning yesterday for the funerals of Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith and Sergeant Matthew Telford.

The British servicemen lost their lives alongside three other soldiers when they were shot by a rogue Afghan policeman at a checkpoint in Helmand Province earlier this month.

Lieutenant Colonel Debbie Poneskis, commanding officer of 4th Regiment Royal Military Police, said the death of Cpl Webster-Smith had left the regiment reeling.

The 24-year-old, known as “Nic” or “W-S” was one of five soldiers killed on November 3 at Blue 25, an Afghan national police checkpoint in Nad e-Ali district of Helmand province.

Speaking as family, friends and colleagues arrived for his funeral at Brackley in Northamptonshire, his commanding officer said Corporal Webster-Smith was a central figure in the regiment.

She said: “He was selected to do one of the most difficult jobs we have in Afghanistan.

“That role is quite critical for us because it is a significant part of our strategy to complete the mission and come home.”

Cpl Webster-Smith died alongside colleague Cpl Steven Boote, also of the Royal Military Police.

They were part of a mixed team of soldiers from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and the Royal Military Police tasked with mentoring members of the Afghan National Police at a checkpoint.

Sgt Telford, warrant officer Darren Chant and Guardsman James Major from the Grenadier Guards were also killed in the incident.

Yesterday, mourners lined the street leading to St Peter’s Parish Church at Brackley.

Cpl Webster-Smith’s coffin, draped in the Union Flag with his red military police cap and white stable belt on top, was carried by his colleagues. As it was taken into the church the Adjutant General’s Corps Band played The Watch Tower, the march of the Royal Military Police.

More than 1,000 people meanwhile lined the streets of Grimsby and packed into the St James’s Church for the service for Sgt Telford.

On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners in neighbouring Cleethorpes paid their respects to teenage Guardsman Major. Yesterday, crowds broke into applause as the funeral procession for Sgt Telford arrived at the church. Grenadier Guardsmen, dressed in ceremonial uniform, carried 37-year-old Sgt Telford’s Union Flag-draped coffin into the church.

Members of Sgt Telford’s family, including his wife Kerry, parents Ron and Cheryl, and sister Eleanor, followed the Guardsmen as the Dire Straits song Brothers in Arms was played. About 500 people stood in the cold to listen to the hour-long service over loud speakers.

Padre Peter Hewlett-Smith, officiating chaplain to the Grenadier Guards, said Sgt Telford, from Scartho, north-east Lincolnshire “loved” his job and described him as a “dedicated British soldier”.

He said: “Kerry and the children are proud of Matthew, of who and what he was, a brave husband, friend and father, and rightly so.”

Sgt Telford’s coffin, bearing his regimental cap and belt and a wreath of poppies, was carried out of the church and placed into the silver hearse next to a floral tribute spelling the word “Daddy”, from his sons, Callum, nine, and four-year-old Harry.