Tears as soldier son’s body is repatriated

Highlander Scott McLaren’s relatives comforted each other as the 20-year-old’s coffin was driven through Wootton Bassett.

His parents, James and Ann, sister Kirsty and brothers James and Ross, joined other relatives in the Wiltshire town to pay tribute to their loved one.

As has become tradition, local people and Royal British Legion members joined his family and friends to line the high street in tribute.

After Highlander McLaren’s body had been flown to RAF Lyneham, a private service was held at the base’s chapel.

The soldier, of the 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, was found dead with gunshot wounds after vanishing from a Nato checkpoint in central Helmand province on July 4. The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.

The colleagues of the Highlander, who deployed to Afghanistan as a Rifleman in April, described him as a man of “true grit”.