MOURNERS were today paying tribute to a Hampshire bomb disposal expert killed in southern Iraq.

More than 300 relatives, friends and comrades of Army Staff Sergeant Chris Muir, 32, were due to attend his funeral at All Saints Church in Burton Dassett, Warwickshire.

Mr Muir, pictured above, originally from Romsey, became the third British bomb disposal specialist to die in Iraq, during an operation to dismantle munitions on March 31.

Mr Muir, a former pupil at Halterworth and Mountbatten schools in Romsey and Eastleigh's Barton Peveril College, left a widow Gillian and a four-year-old son Ben.

Shortly after his death was announced by the MoD, Mrs Muir spoke of her husband's pride in his regiment.

She said: "I know that Chris was very proud to wear the badge of an ammunition technician and I take small comfort from the knowledge that he died doing the job that he loved."

The church is close to Mr Muir's home base at Kineton, where he was a member of the Army School of Ammunition, Royal Logistic Corps.

A regimental spokesman said the ceremony, with full military honours, would be followed by a private cremation service.