VC hero 'killed by Nato bullet'

Corporal Bryan Budd, of the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment died in August 2006 after being shot in the abdomen during a fierce firefight in Sangin, Helmand Province.

The inquest in Oxford was told that Cpl Budd, 29, from Ripon, North Yorkshire, had also spearheaded an attack on an enemy position a month before his death, allowing a wounded colleague to be evacuated for life-saving treatment.

The Assistant Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire, Andrew Walker, heard that tests on fragments of the bullet which killed Cpl Budd showed it was likely to have been fired from a Nato weapon.

Ballistics expert Ed Wallace told the court that tests of 24 weapons used by Cpl Budd's comrades had failed to establish if any of them had fired the fatal shot.

But Mr Wallace said tests on two bullet fragments had established that they were from 5.56 calibre ammunition, which is used in rifles and machine guns issued to British troops.

After hearing Mr Wallace's evidence, the coroner told the hearing: "In summary, I can be satisfied on the balance of probability that this was a Nato 5.56 projectile fired from a Nato weapon."

Mr Wallace replied: "Yes, that's the most likely cause."

The posthumous award of the Victoria Cross - Britain's highest award for military bravery - to Cpl Budd was the first for almost a quarter of a century.

The soldier's widow accepted the honour, which he received for two separate acts of "exceptional valour" while deployed in southern Afghanistan, on his behalf in December 2006.