EX-SERVICEMEN lined Headley Way in Headington to pay tribute to three soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Royal British Legion standard bearers from across the county were joined by members of the public on Thursday night as the cortege arrived at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The bodies had earlier arrived back at RAF Lyneham before thousands of people watched them pass through Wootton Basset, in Wiltshire.

Corp Matthew Stenton, inset left, of The Royal Dragoon Guards, and L/Corp Stephen Monkhouse, centre, of 1st Battalion Scots Guards, were shot dead by a Taliban gunman as they raced to help an injured soldier in Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, on July 21.

They were repatriated alongside Sapper Mark Antony Smith, inset right, of 36 Engineer Regiment, who was killed in a suspected ‘friendly fire’ incident.

He had been serving with the Counter-IED Task Force in the Sangin area of Helmand when he died on Monday.