Welsh soldier's body returned to the UK

Captain Stephen Healey's body has been repatriated to RAF Brize Norton Credit: MOD

The body of a Cardiff soldier has been returned to the UK today.

Captain Stephen Healey from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, died in Afghanistan on 26 May.

The 29-year-old’s body was repatriated to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that Captain Healey was killed when a vehicle he was travelling in was caught in a bomb blast in Helmand Province.

At the time of his death his family said the soldier “managed to do more in his 30 years than most people do in a lifetime.”

Captain Healey leaves behind his father John, mother Kerry, brother Simon and girlfriend Thea.

After leaving school, Captain Healey became a semi-professional football player, playing for clubs in South Wales and enjoying an apprenticeship at Swansea City. He completed a degree in Sports Science at Swansea University, before joining the army in 2007. He was commissioned into 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh, in 2008.

In 2011, he was selected to command the renaissance platoon and led their deployment in Afghanistan in March 2012. Three weeks before that, he organised and took part in a blindfolded walk between Chester and Llandudno to raise money for Blind Veterans UK.