Guardsman's mother praises comrades for bid to save him

Jacqui Janes told an inquest that colleagues of her son, Guardsman Jamie Janes, did "everything humanly possible" after he was terribly wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED).

He was part of a 10-strong team on foot patrol when the device was detonated and followed up by an insurgent ambush, injuring three other British troops near Nad e-Ali district centre in Helmand on October 5 last year.

Guardsman Janes, 20, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was airlifted to a hospital at Camp Bastion but died from horrific injuries, the inquest at Brighton County Court heard.

Addressing section commander Arron Harris at the end of his evidence, Mrs Janes paid tribute to him and his colleagues for their efforts.

She said: "I know that you did everything humanly possible for Jamie and I know that none of you are to blame in any way, shape or form and I'm so grateful for all you did for Jamie that day."

Guardsman Janes, from Portslade, Brighton, East Sussex, had been helping to lift another soldier out of ditch water when the explosion occurred around 8am.

Moments earlier he had been enjoying a light-hearted chat with another colleague, Guardsman Jamie Bishop, and joking with him because he was wet.

They were patrolling in perilous terrain towards a village which had been virtually deserted by local Afghans and had been heavily covered with IEDs.

The British soldiers set off from their base at about 5.30am and were aiming to make the area safe for friendly local villagers.

The troops were working in three sections of 10 in an area insurgents were familiar with and contained pitfalls such as irrigation ditches, the inquest heard.

Maj Richard Green, patrol commander, agreed that it was a painstaking operation made more difficult by unfriendly locals keeping watch on their movements.

The inquest heard that he and his colleagues were wearing body armour, including helmets, and Guardsman Janes was equipped with a rifle and a pistol.

He had been deployed to Afghanistan in mid-September last year before undergoing eight days of acclimatisation while in Afghanistan.

Maj Green said it was considered generally safer to be on foot patrol in that particular terrain rather than in vehicles because of the pitfalls posed by such hazards as irrigation ditches.

Following the death, Prime Minister Gordon Brown provoked the anger of Guardsman Janes's family after his hand-written message of condolence to them began "Dear Mrs James" and appeared to contain other spelling errors.

Brighton and Hove Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.