A WIDOW has spoken of her grief after her husband was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber.

Father-of-three Alan Parkin died when his convoy was targeted on the notorious 'Road of Death' near Baghdad Airport.

Mr Parkin, 44, from Consett was an ex-Para who spent 23 years in the Army, with tours of duty to Bosnia, the Gulf and Northern Ireland. He went to Iraq to work as a bodyguard last summer.

He worked for London-based Aegis Defence Services, whose main contract is for the US Government's Department of Defence.

Mr Parkin's wife, Zena, whom he met in the Army, paid tribute to her husband.

They would have celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary next month and have three children, Sonia, 21, Daniel, 18, and Dean, 15.

Mrs Parkin, 43, said: "It was a horrible shock. Alan had been in the lead vehicle in the convoy, which seems to have taken the force of the blast.

"We knew it had the potential to be a dangerous job, but we had grown used to that because he'd spent so long in the Army and he'd been to places like Bosnia, the Gulf and Ireland.

"We e-mailed each other every day, and Alan really liked what he was doing. He knew what the risks were.

"He had planned to spend another two years out there and then call it a day, because he thought after that he would be too old to do the kind of work he was doing at the level that was required."

The death of Mr Parkin, a former pupil at Greencroft Secondary School, Stanley, comes after a difficult time for the family.

Last year, Daniel almost died from a burst ulcer.

He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and had been accepted into the Army but was discharged following his health scare.

Mrs Parkin said: "It's been very difficult for all of us, but especially our youngest son, Dean, because he is autistic and he hasn't yet really communicated to us how he feels about his dad's death.

"All Alan's Army friends have phoned us up to wish us well. The phone has never stopped ringing and representatives from his company have also visited us."

Daughter Sonia said: "We've just been remembering all the things we did together and the fun we had. It's difficult but we are coping."

Mr Parkin's employers are making arrangements for his body to be flown home.