A DECORATED soldier who saw action in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq has died of an electric shock in a hotel room.

Warrant officer John Marley, 42, came under fire in the war zones and was decorated with eight military medals in his 24-year career with the Royal Engineers.

But the dad-of-two, from Cotsford Park Estate, in Horden, County Durham died after a freak accident in a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, where he was serving with the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATAK).

WO Marley was off-duty and getting ready for a night out when it is thought that he went to plug in a lamp  he suffered a fatal electric shock.

Although he had a pulse, medics who rushed to the scene couldn’t revive him. His devastated family received the news he had died on April 26.

His distraught partner of 11 years, Paula Wild, said: “He had been in the Army for 24 years. I think I would have rather it happened while he was in action. I feel empty.

“He was going to come out of the Army this time, before he was sent to Kenya, and I said ‘if you go back to Afghanistan, you’re not going’, but now this has happened.”

She added: “He has served more or less every recent war.

“He has been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Ireland and has dodged bullets.

“He has got eight medals and he was dedicated to the Army, but he was also a doting dad and family man.”

Ms Wild, 42, said WO Marley’s parents Elizabeth and Kevin, with an Army representative, knocked on her door in the early hours to tell her the heartbreaking news.

WO Marley had just signed up for another two years in the Army after reaching the end of his service, she added.

He was with the 39 Engineer Regiment when he flew to Kenya on Mother’s Day.

WO Marley was dad to Jonathan, eight, and six-year-old Jessica.

An inquest into WO Marley’s death opened last Friday and has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

His funeral will take place at St Mary’s Church in Blackhills Terrace, Horden.on Friday at 11am.