Same Iraq sniper 'killed seven'

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The rifle used to kill a British Army corporal in Iraq has also claimed the lives of six other British soldiers, an inquest in Wiltshire heard.

Cpl Rodney Wilson of 4th Battalion The Rifles was shot when he tried to rescue a wounded colleague in Basra on 7 June.

A weapons expert told his inquest the bullet which killed him was from the same insurgent-fired weapon that has also killed six other UK servicemen.

Edward Wallace said it was "almost certain" the same gun was responsible.

Cpl Wilson, the 150th UK serviceman to die in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, was carrying L/Cpl Jonathan LeGalloudec up a street when he was hit, the inquest at Trowbridge heard.

'Hugely proud'

A third soldier, 2nd Lieutenant Charles Kilner, was also hit but survived.

Lt Kilner told the hearing how "Will", as Cpl Wilson was known, had beckoned him to help carry L/Cpl LeGalloudec.

Lt Kilner, of 4 Rifles, said: "The next thing I knew was that I had been hit in my left arm, with which I was carrying L/Cpl LeGalloudec - at which point I looked over and Cpl Wilson was already on the floor.

Cpl Wilson was, in the words of his own Riflemen, 'a legend' Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Sanders

"I fell to my knees. I saw Cpl Wilson. It appeared to me that he had been shot in the neck."

Wiltshire coroner David Masters gave the cause of death of Cpl Wilson, who was based at Bulford in Wiltshire, as gun shot wounds to the neck and chest.

Mr Masters, recording a verdict of unlawful killing, said Cpl Wilson and Lt Kilner approached L/Cpl LeGalloudec "unconcerned for their own safety despite the enormous danger".

Cpl Wilson's father Richard said: "I am hugely proud of him. I was just incredulous that I played a part in producing a lad like him."

Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Sanders, commander of 4 Rifles, said: "Where Cpl Wilson led, others would always follow. He was, in the words of his own Riflemen, 'a legend'."