A heroic soldier who rushed across unchecked ground to save a fatally injured combat medic broke down in tears at an inquest on Friday as he recounted his comrade's final moments.
Corporal Barry Dempsey, of The Royal Highland Fusiliers, died on August 18, 2008 after he walked over an improvised explosive device (IED) on the way back to his patrol vehicle in southern Afghanistan.
The 29-year-old, from Penicuik in Midlothian, was involved in a joint British-Afghan operation to clear Taliban forces from a village in the Gereshk valley in Helmand Province.
The inquest at Wiltshire Coroner's Court was played a video showing Cpl Dempsey in position next to a grenade machine gun just seconds before he was killed.
Sgt Gavin Laver, of the Queen's Royal Lancers, told the inquest his comrade was stood in a "bowl" on high ground, alongside an American Sergeant Major who had been firing at enemy positions.
Sgt Laver, who could see Cpl Dempsey from his position on board a WMIK Land Rover, said: "As I looked over, Barry stood up and as he walked back to the vehicle, across the middle of the bowl, that's when the explosion went off."
Sgt Laver said he had personally searched the high ground for IEDs with metal detectors before the explosion, but had not been required to cover the wadi - a dry riverbed - below.
"I couldn't see Cpl Dempsey and I shouted 'where's Barry?'," he said.
Sgt Laver then saw Cpl Dempsey lying in the wadi below - an area previously determined to have a high threat from IEDs - and proceeded towards him.
When Coroner David Ridley asked Sgt Laver if the ground had been checked, he replied: "No, but he (Cpl Dempsey) was injured."
Sgt Laver went on: "I was the first person with him. I jumped into the wadi. I was with him for a few minutes. I gave him morphine and tried to apply a tourniquet. I told him the helicopter was coming."
Sgt Laver wept as he recalled carrying Cpl Dempsey's body back to the higher ground on a quad bike.
"That's when he passed away," he said.
The American Sergeant Major, an Afghan National Army soldier and an interpreter received shrapnel and blast injuries in the incident.
Cpl Dempsey left behind a wife Shelly, who sat throughout the hearing, and two children.
