The Ministry of Defence has accepted liability for the death of a 22-year-old soldier on a mid Wales mountain range, but his family has criticised a �5,000 payout as "insulting".

Grenadier guardsman Richard King died after live ammunition was mixed up with blanks during a training exercise at Sennybridge near Brecon, Powys four years ago.

The MoD has admitted responsibility for the incident, in which the soldier was hit by one of five live bullets - although the reasons behind the mix-up have never been fully explained.

Richard King: Died on exercise

However, the soldier's family is furious with the payout sum - to cover costs including his rent at the family home - and fears the UK Government acceptance will bury the cause of the incident for good.

The Sennybridge range is one of the most popular used by soldiers across the UK.

Private King from Kent was taking part in a training exercise during February 1998 when the bullets' mix-up, which the Army was unable to explain at a later inquest, happened.

The Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to prosecute anyone over the death following an investigation by Dyfed-Powys Police.

The Health and Safety Executive later demanded improvements at the site.

The Army issued a pamphlet explaining the differences between live and blank ammunition.

'Insulting' payout

Four years later, the guardsman's family solicitor Robert Peterson has received a confirmation by letter the UK Treasury has admitted its part and is offering �5,000.

But Private King's sister Liz Bull told BBC Wales that sum is "an insult" to her brother's memory.

Her family had launched civil legal action against the MoD in an attempt to learn the truth.

But the ministry's acceptance brings that action to an automatic halt.

Ms Bull now fears the full picture of what happened on the Sennybridge ranges will never be obtained.

In March, barrister Anthony Scrivener QC - a former chair of the Bar Council - called for an inquiry to be launched into a similar fatal incident.

Wayne Richards, 17, from Cwmavon in the Swansea Valley, was killed on Woodbury Common, near his Royal Marine training base in Devon two years ago.