'I don't want them to have died in vain. Let them finish the job'

The grieving ex-wife of a soldier killed with four colleagues by a renegade Afghan policeman today called for British troops to remain in the country to "finish the job".

Connie Chant, 41, spoke out as the bodies of her former husband Darren Chant and five others were being returned to Britain.

Mrs Chant said that despite the death of Regimental Sergeant Major Chant, with whom she had three children, the fight against the Taliban should continue.

She told the Daily Mirror: "I don't believe we should pull out, despite Darren's death. I don't want him or any others to have died in vain. They should be allowed to finish the job."

But WO1 Chant's mother Elizabeth today disagreed. She said: "Darren wouldn't have me say anything bad but I do think these boys should come home now. There are too many being killed."

A total of 232 British service personnel have died since the war began in 2001. The second of two soldiers killed over the weekend in Afghanistan is due to be named today. The first was Rifleman Philip Allen, 20, from Dorset.