THE human cost of the conflict in Iraq was brought back to the North-East last Friday when a security worker was buried by his family, friends and colleagues.

Those mourning the death of ex-para Alan Parkin filed out of The Parish Church of Consett to the theme tune of The Deer Hunter, Cavatina.

Tears streamed down the faces of relatives of the Consett father-of-three, who was killed when bomb blast ripped through his convoy on the road to Baghdad Airport last month.

Former members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment stood to attention and formed a guard of honour as the coffin, wrapped in the Union Flag, was taken to Blackhill Cemetery.

Mr Parkin, who spent 23 years in the Army, with tours of duty to Bosnia, the Gulf and Northern Ireland, went to Iraq to work as a bodyguard last summer.

The 44-year-old had been protecting construction workers rebuilding the war-torn country.

London-based Aegis Defences Services chief executive Lt Col Tim Spicer said: "Working with Alan was a delight. He had a calm, assured, cheerful demeanour and underlying toughness and a great sense of humour.

"He believed he was doing something worthwhile for a people oppressed by terror, torture and murder for 30 years.

"He was a soldier through and through."

A former pupil of Greencroft Secondary School in Stanley, he devoted his life to the Army but planned to retire in two years.

A dedicated family man, Mr Parkin emailed home every day and would have celebrated his 22nd wedding anniversary with wife Zena next month.

The couple have three children, Sonia, 21, Daniel, 18, and Dean, who is 15.

The moving service opened with music chosen by Mrs Parkin, Because you Love Me, and included a piece selected by his children, I'll Be Missing You.

The Rev David Cooper paid tribute to the work he did in Iraq.

He said: "Alan was trying to improve the daily lives of people who could not do it for themselves and he risked his life doing that.

"There is no other occupation that demands a person gives everything they possibly can do to it, other than soldiering.

"That marks him out as people who had more humanity and that cared more than most people for others.

"He had characteristics not dissimilar to that of a saint."

* An inquest was opened and adjourned last Thursday by north Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle pending further inquiries.