Homes site to be named after soldier killed in Afghanistan

A HOUSING development in Morley is to be named in memory of a local soldier who was killed in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal David Kirkness, 24, was killed in a suicide bombing while preventing carnage at a marketplace last December.

L/Cpl Kirkness and a colleague, Rifleman James Brown, 18, from Kent, were serving with 3rd Battalion The Rifles when a motorcyclist approached their checkpoint.

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Two suicide bombers on the motorcycle detonated bombs among British and Afghan soldiers, killing L/Cpl Kirkness and his colleague.

Naming the housing development Kirkness Court was the idea of Morley councillor Terry Grayshon.

He said: "As we enter the national period of remembrance it seems all the more fitting that the new road and development in Morley should be named in memory of Lance Corporal David Kirkness, a soldier from Morley who died protecting the lives of others.

"The Kirkness family live just around the corner from the location of the development and I hope by naming it Kirkness Court it will remind them of the debt of gratitude we, as a community, owe to members of our armed forces.

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"It is recognition of the sacrifice that David made that we are naming the new development Kirkness Court and in future years to come it will act as a permanent reminder of the life of Lance Corporal David Kirkness and the sacrifice he made protecting the lives of others."

The development, on Corporation Street, on which Accent Housing is working in partnership with Leeds Council will provide 22 two-bedroom flats for the over-55s.

The first anniversary of L/Cpl Kirkness's death, December 15,

will be marked by a firework display during which a rocket containing some of his ashes will be sent skyward over Morley Town Hall.

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His mother Maggie, of Morley, said the final firework of the display will be the one containing his ashes.

She said: "He wanted some of his ashes putting in a firework. He said to me 'If anything happens to me I want to be a firework over Morley Town Hall.' He was so much fun and that's typical of his sense of humour.

The display starts at 6pm.

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