Funeral of airman killed in Iraq

Sqn Ldr Marshall was one of 10 servicemen killed

The funeral has been held of a Lincolnshire airman killed when an RAF Hercules crashed in Iraq in January.

Squadron Leader Patrick Marshall, 39, from Caythorpe near Grantham, was among 10 people killed when the plane came down north of Baghdad.

His funeral, in Cranwell, was marked by a four-Tornado flypast.

A government investigation ruled out sabotage or mechanical failure and an interim report has indicated the plane was almost certainly shot down.

Sqn Ldr Marshall graduated from RAF Cranwell in 1990 and his funeral was held at the Royal Air Force College Chapel of St Michael and All Angels at Cranwell on Wednesday morning.

Patrick Marshall graduated from RAF Cranwell in 1990

He was a staff officer serving with Headquarters Strike Command, High Wycombe, and was on temporary detachment to Iraq as a liaison officer when he was killed.

The other servicemen who died were Flt Lt David Stead, 35, Flt Lt Andrew Smith, 25, Flt Lt Paul Pardoel, 35, Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42, Chief Technician Richard Brown, 40, Flt Sgt Mark Gibson, 34, Sgt Robert O'Connor, 38, Cpl David Williams, 37, and Acting L/Cpl Steven Jones, 25, a soldier serving with the Royal Signals.

A memorial service for the whole crew of the Hercules will be held later in the year.

The crash - the single largest loss of British life in Iraq since military action began in 2003 - happened on 30 January, the day Iraq held historic elections.

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