THE first British female bomb expert killed in Afghanistan was yesterday carried by comrades on her final journey.

Members of Didcot-based 11 EOD Regiment, the Royal Logistic Corps, bore the coffin of Captain Lisa Head at her funeral.

Another contingent of soldiers from the town’s Vauxhall Barracks formed a guard of honour in tribute to the 29-year-old.

More than 1,000 mourners packed into the parish church in her home town of Huddersfield, in West Yorkshire, to hear of Capt Head’s “breathless bravery”.

She was knocked off her feet as she made safe one homemade bomb in Afghanistan on April 18. But after she “dusted herself down”, a second device exploded.

Capt Head’s commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Adam McRae MBE, based in Didcot, told the service: “By looking around at the attendance today you can see very much how the MoD community and the wider army feel about Lisa.

“Capt Head was known for her effervescent character, her beaming smile and especially for sharing her ciggies.

“Everyone spoke of her as courageous, professional, approachable and friendly.

“These themes ring out through everything I have read. Lisa’s tragic death exemplifies this.”

He added that Capt Head’s decision to try to defuse the explosive device was “an act of breathless bravery, and sadly one that cost her life”.

Capt Head, who had only been deployed to Afghanistan on March 27, was mortally wounded in the second blast in Nahr-e-Saraj, Helmand province. She was flown home and treated in hospital in Birmingham, but died from her injuries.

Mourners three deep lined the streets outside St Peter’s Church, Huddersfield, with hundreds more family, friends and armed service personnel inside.

Capt Head is only the second British woman soldier to have been killed since operations started in Afghanistan.

In June 2008 Sarah Bryant, 26, a member of the Intelligence Corps, died along with three SAS men in a roadside bomb attack in Lashkar Gah.

The Rev Roger Nelson, of St Peter’s, read a short personal tribute from Capt Head’s parents, John and Leila.

It said: “Lisa baby there’s not enough words to say how we feel. You are so lovely, we miss you so much. It is like dad said, you were as courageous as a lion but first and foremost you were our daughter. Love you.”

After Capt Head’s family emerged from the church, spontaneous applause rang out as the funeral cortege left for a private internment.

The Rev Dr Paul Swinn, chaplain to 11 EOD Regiment, said: “It means a lot to us, as a military, to know how the wider community value what we do.

“The community has taken her and her family to their hearts.”