A soldier who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after he died attempting to rescue his comrades was unlawfully killed, a coroner dominated as we speak.
Lance Corporal James Ashworth, 23, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was fatally injured by his personal grenade after he was hit by a Taliban bullet simply as he went to throw the explosive system right into a compound in June final yr.
At LCpl Ashworth’s inquest as we speak Anne Pember, the Northamptonshire Coroner, mentioned a submit mortem had revealed reason for loss of life as blast accidents brought on by an explosion and recorded a verdict of illegal killing whereas he was serving on operations in Afghanistan.
LCpl Ashworth died after crawling alongside being peppered with bullets to throw his final grenade at a sniper who had his crew pinned down.
Talking after the inquest in Kettering, his mom Kerry mentioned her son, solely the second soldier to be awarded a VC for bravery in Afghanistan, had died doing the job he liked.
She mentioned: “His smile can gentle up any room he goes into and all of us love and miss him so.
“James handed away doing a job he liked. At instances it was a tough job however he did get to expertise new nations, study new abilities and make some great mates.
“James might be perpetually be in our hearts, ideas and prayers and we are going to by no means recover from his passing. However we are going to keep sturdy collectively as a household and alongside together with his mates we are going to stay optimistic and rejoice his life at each alternative as I do know that’s what he would need us to do.”
His commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonel James Bowder mentioned he was “the bravest of troopers, the very best of males”.
In addition to the VC, LCpl Ashworth has had a sq. named after him in his house city of Corby.
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