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Burial grief for soldier’s mum

Tom Rowley
22/11/2006

A GLOSSOP mother whose teenage soldier son was killed just two weeks after arriving in Iraq will see him buried tomorrow (Friday).

Kingsman Jamie Hancock, 19, was shot dead while on sentry duty with the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment at a coalition base in central Basra.

Jamie's coffin, draped in a Union Jack, was carried from a transport plane to the haunting strains of the Last Post amid emotional repatriation scenes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at the weekend.

Jamie's father Eddie Hancock, 60, his mother Lynda Ledwith, who runs the Bird's Nest bed and breakfast on Primrose Lane, and his stepmother Rose Hancock were present, a Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed.

More than 300 troops in Iraq paid their own tributes to Jamie at a "sunset ceremony" before the RAF C-17 aircraft left Basra for Britain.

Jamie's body will be held at St John's Church in Hindley Green, Wigan, tomorrow (Friday), followed by a private burial service, the MoD said.

A spokesman added: "It will be a full military funeral with a gun salute."

Jamie was described by senior officers as "an outstanding soldier". Just days before he died on November 7 he sent a haunting last letter home to his father. In it he talked of his love for his family and attacks on British troops.

Mr Hancock, who has called for an immediate withdrawal, described his son as "a shining star".

He said: "He had an immense pride in serving his country and a fierce pride for his regiment."

The bodies of two other soldiers and two Royal Marines killed when their boat was attacked near Basra on Remembrance Sunday were also on board the same flight.