HUNDREDS of Royal British Legion members, soldiers and members of the public lined Headley Way, in Headington, today as the bodies of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan returned to Britain.

The bodies of Marine Anthony Hotine, 21, Cpl Terry Webster, 24, L Cpl Alan Cochran, 23, and Lance Bombardier Mark Chandler, 32, were flown into RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, before being brought to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital for a post mortem.

The cortege made its way to Oxford just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron appeared with president Hamid Karzai in Kabul during his visit to Afghanistan.

Cpl Webster, from Chester, and L Cpl Cochran, from St Asaph, North Wales, both of 1st Battalion the Mercian Regiment, were killed on June 4 in a gunfight with insurgents while on foot patrol in Helmand Province.

Marine Hotine, who was born in Torquay, Devon, and lived in Warminster, Wiltshire, was killed on June 2 in an explosion while on a reassurance patrol with the Afghan National Army in the Sangin district of Helmand province.

Lance Bombardier Chandler, who lived in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, was killed in a small arms firefight with insurgents in Helmand Province on June 8.