AN ARMY chief commended the bravery of a Huddersfield bomb disposal expert killed in Afghanistan – and her comrades who risked their lives to help her.

Colonel Gareth Collett, head of Army Bomb Disposal, spoke of Capt Lisa Jade Head’s professionalism as she tried to detonate a bomb in Afghanistan.

His comments came as a coroner ruled Capt Head, 29, of Almondbury, was unlawfully killed on active service in Afghanistan.

The inquest in Bradford heard how Capt Head of 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment the Royal Logistic Corps, lost limbs in the blast in an alleyway in Padaka, Helmand Province, on April 18 last year.

Capt Head was leading an operation to clear an alleyway of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), but the way the Taliban lay them made it difficult to detect.

Capt Head successfully defused one IED before retreating to a safe distance then returning with a comrade to take photographs of it.

Corporal Adam Tucker said: “We heard a pop and a second device detonated.

“It wasn’t a full detonation, her boots were covered in dust but she was shaken up and she came back to us and made light of the situation.

“I asked Capt Head if she was happy to continue and being a stubborn Yorkshire woman she said she was quite happy to and she went back and that’s when the explosion happened.”

Cpl Tucker described how he and his colleagues had to make a split second decision – risk their own lives to help Capt Head or retreat.