Bravery of another true hero revealed

The bravery of Staff Sergeant Brett Linley - named this morning as the bomb disposal expert killed on Saturday - has been revealed by Lt Col Gerald Strickland.

He has spoken about the 29-year-old from Birmingham in glowing terms on the Ministry of Defence website: "After a soldier had been killed in an IED strike, Staff Sergeant Linley went forward to clear the area so that the soldier's personal effects could be recovered. I sat 50-metres away as the sun dipped in the sky watching his lone figure edging down a wood line, step by painstaking step. In the space of an hour, on his own, he found three more IEDs.

"There was no fanfare, he simply dealt with each device, and then silently moved on to the next. He did much more for us, both before and after this event, but it is a mark of the man that he was ever calm, utterly professional, and never made a fuss.

"He was a true hero who knew the risks of his job, but never hesitated to step forward into danger. "