Pilgrimage for Marine killed in Afghanistan

Sarah Horsley was comforted by grieving relatives and friends of Marine David Hart, of 40 Commando, Royal Marines, who was killed on the eve of his 24th birthday in an explosion while on foot patrol in the Sangin district of Helmand province on Thursday last week.

The body of Marine Hart, from Upper Poppleton, near York, was repatriated to the UK yesterday along with the remains of Bombardier Samuel Robinson, 31, of 5th Regiment, Royal Artillery, who was from Carmarthen in Wales and died in a separate explosion in Afghanistan. Following a private service at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, their coffins, draped in Union flags, were then driven through nearby Wootton Bassett.

Meanwhile hundreds of mourners in York yesterday paid tribute to Trooper Ashley Smith, 21, as his funeral was held in the city's Minster. He died in an explosion while on patrol in Helmand on June 18.

Tributes were also paid last night to a "brilliant" Royal Marine who, like Marine Hart, was killed in Afghanistan the day before his 24th birthday.

Matthew Harrison, of 40 Commando, from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, died on Tuesday.