Final respects are paid before the bodies of 10 British troopsTHE bodies of 10 servicemen killed when an RAF Hercules crashed into the Iraq desert arrived home in RAF Lyneham today.

Princess Anne and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, who both visited Lyneham on private visits last week, joined the bereaved families for a two-hour long military ceremony at the base.

The colleagues of the dead men slowly marched each Union Jack-covered coffin off the back of a C17 Globemaster transport plane to music by the RAF Band.

The Ministry of Defence yesterday agreed to break with standard procedure to fly the bodies into RAF Lyneham.

Normally, the bodies of servicemen killed abroad are flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The aircraft carrying the bodies taxied to the ceremony area after landing and the first bodies were then marched off.

Today's repatriation was announced in the House of Commons yesterday by Mr Hoon.

"I pay tribute to those men," he said.

He added that investigations into the cause of the crash were continuing.

Mr Hoon also condemned the "intrusive" practices of national newspapers who he said had added to the grief of bereaved families with their tactics.

He revealed national newspaper journalists had posed as florists and pretended to deliver flowers to family members, only to then attempt to conduct door-step interviews.

He told MPs: "I visited RAF Lyneham and this was a point that was raised with me on a number of different occasions in different parts of the base by families and indeed serving members of the RAF. This is not an appropriate time for this type of intrusion."

The nine RAF men and one soldier were killed on January 30 the day of Iraq's nationwide elections when their plane crashed 25 miles north west of Baghdad.

Militants released a video apparently showing a strike on the troop carrier, which was flying low in clear conditions.

But British investigators who have completed work at the scene have not yet confirmed the cause of the crash.

The crash caused the largest single loss of life for UK forces since the start of military action in Iraq. Eight of the men were based at RAF Lyneham, one in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and the 10th was a soldier.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray said today would be a day of intense grief for the bereaved.

He added: "I think the grief on the base can be felt now and it was

clearly visible when the repatriation took place.

"The people who have lost loved ones will feel that grief for months and years to come and unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to stop that.

"What I can, however, do is offer practical help with any housing issues, pensions or benefits which arise.

"The families will need our help and support in the weeks and months to come.

"Today is a very, very sad day for the people of Lyneham."

Among those killed when the aircraft crashed were Master Engineer Gary Nicholson, 42, of Stratton St Margaret, and Flight Sergeant Mark Gibson, 34, of Sparcells.

Newdesk