Floral tribute to fallen hero killed in Afghan conflict

The flowers, in the shape of the St George’s Cross, have been placed outside the Bay Horse pub on Stoney Lane in Chapelthorpe, near Wakefield, in honour of Lance Cpl David Kirkness.

His uncle, Steve Sambrook, is landlord at the pub.

He said: “It’s just something that we thought that we would do, not just for my nephew, but for all the lads out in Afghanistan.”

Lance Cpl Kirkness, a father-of-one, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles was killed in December 2009 trying to protect Afghan citizens from a suicide bomber at a marketplace in Helmand.

The 24-year-old, from Morley, Leeds, was killed alongside another soldier, 18-year-old Rifleman James Brown, from Kent, while on a security patrol.

His mother, Maggie Kirkness, said: “It was all my brother’s idea, David was really close to Steven and it’s him that’s done it all.

“It’s a really fitting tribute and when you go past it’ll be there for everyone to see for all the lads.”

Last December, in line with a request Lance Cpl Kirkness had made, a firework containing his ashes was set off in Morley, near Leeds, where the soldier had lived.