A PLAN to finally honour a soldier shot for deserting the trenches has been welcomed by campaigners.

South Tyneside Borough Council has agreed to include Wilfred Clarke's name on the war memorial to First World War dead at Tyne Dock, South Shields.

Mr Clarke, of South Shields, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, was executed in February 1918 for desertion.

He is one of seven DLI men shot for desertion for whom campaign group Shot at Dawn (Sad) is trying to win official pardons.

The 23-year-old, a volunteer, was sentenced to death by a court martial after being arrested at Boulogne, France, 30 miles from the trenches at Loos.

Sad spokesman John Hipkin said: "He was a Kitchener volunteer and had been on the Western Front for quite a while. He didn't wait to be conscripted.

"He was mute throughout the court martial - he would have been terrified - and was undefended. There was no appeal against the death sentence.

"A witness, Sergeant G W Smith, said he had known the accused for ten months and said he was a good soldier.

"When they had lost a patrol Pte Clarke volunteered to go out and find them. That takes a special form of guts."

Mr Hipkin said many of the soldiers executed had been on the front for a long time and had deserted twice.

"It is an established fact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, that if you leave anyone on the front too long they will crack. This is what I'm sure happened to Wilfred Clarke."

Mr Hipkin welcomed the council's decision. "I can't tell you how pleased I am, even though pardons have been refused by the Labour Government."