Cheshire soldiers killed in Afghanistan ambush, inquest told

Nov 26 2011 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Echo

TWO soldiers were killed and a third was seriously injured by a single sniper when their patrol was ambushed in Afghanistan, an inquest heard yesterday.

Corporal Terry Webster, 24, and Lance Corporal Alan Cochran, 23, both of 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire), were killed in the insurgent attack in Helmand Province on June 4 last year.

L/Cpl Cochran was engaged to Wallasey nurse Claire Brookshaw, whom he met through her brother Private Ian Brookshaw, who served with the same regiment. The inquest heard Cpl Webster and L/Cpl Cochran were part of a patrol securing a corridor through countryside near a known Taliban stronghold in Nahr-e Saraj.

Commanding Officer Major Richard Grover told the Chester inquest their B (Malta) Company was providing protection to locals and stability for the Afghan National Security Forces.

B Company had arrived in the area a day earlier and almost immediately came under sustained attack.

Cpl Webster and L/Cpl Cochran’s patrol set off at around 12pm on June 4, heading west across open ground for about 250m before arriving at an 8ft wide and deep drainage ditch.

As they crossed the ditch, the soldiers at the front of the patrol came under machine gun fire from the south-west.

Seconds later, Cpl Webster and L/Cpl Cochran, who were at the rear of the patrol, were targeted by a sniper from the north-east.

Platoon Commander Lieutenant Nathan Rogers told deputy coroner Janet Napier: “As soon as we heard the machine gun fire, we dropped to the ground and returned fire to suppress the enemy position.

“Terry and Alan were the last two men across the ditch. I heard ‘man down’ over the radio.

“Terry was my second in command and I had not heard from him so that suggested he was injured, but I could not be certain.

“I threw a smoke grenade and headed back across the ditch. As we got back, it was clear there were three casualties.”

Cpl Webster, a married dad-of-two from Chester, suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck.

L/Cpl Cochran, from St Asaph, North Wales, suffered a single gunshot to the head and died instantly.

Pathologist Dr Russell Delaney told the coroner nothing could have been done to save Cpl Webster and L/Cpl Cochran.

Dr Napier recorded a verdict that the two men were unlawfully killed while serving their country as soldiers.

After the hearing, Ms Brookshaw, 19, said they had been planning to get married this summer.

She said: “I miss him very much, particularly on anniversaries.

“He was doing what he wanted to do.”