Soldier shot dead in Afghanistan was due to return to Midlands
[gallery] A British soldier who was killed in action by a member of the Afghan National Army was just weeks away from being reunited with his young daughter in Staffordshire, it has emerged.
Sapper Richard Walker was a besotted father to Lilly-Faith and had been counting the days to seeing her again when he was shot in a 'green on blue' attack.
Devastated Abbie Revill, the mother of 21-month-old Lilly-Faith, is still coming to terms with news that she will never again see the man she still calls her "best friend" despite their split two years ago.
"He was the best father you could ever find – supportive, loving, completely devoted to Lilly," she said.
"Although we weren't together, we were a team where she was concerned. He spoilt her rotten to make up for being away so much. She was a real daddy's girl. I dread having to tell her what's happened."
The news was broken to Abbie on Monday night in a phone call from Richard's mother. A Ministry of Defence officer visited her home in Wheatlands Close, Heath Hayes, Cannock, the next day and has been in daily contact since.
The soldier, from Sunderland, proudly held his daughter at her christening at Wolverhampton's St Bartholomew's Church in Penn on his last leave before returning to Afghanistan on December 23.
He planned to go house-hunting in Sutton Coldfield when he returned in March and had been thinking of giving up the Army to be near his new family.
The pair had originally planned to marry and live happily ever after but the enforced absences while he was serving with the Army put too much of a strain on the fledgling relationship.
However the split, when it came, was not the end of the story for the couple.
Their mutual devotion to daughter Lilly-Faith led to a deep and loving friendship which saw the young soldier, just short of his 24th birthday, spend most of his leave in Staffordshire lavishing attention and gifts on his little girl.
And the pair last spoke on Christmas Day when Richard called from Patrol Base Hazrat in Helmand Province.
Abbie describes him as "the best father ever" and says his death is hard to take in.
The former sweethearts met on a blind date, set up by a friend of Abbie's who was seeing one of Richard's friends. They got engaged on New Year's Eve 2010, celebrating with a party at the Roman Way Hotel in Cannock. But when 22-year-old Abbie, who works at Bluebird Care in Cannock, fell pregnant and asked him to leave the Army so that they could live as a family, their relationship hit the rocks.
"He loved his job so much, he couldn't give it up, and I respected him for it. But he was still very much involved in our lives."
Richard would spend two-thirds of every leave in Cannock where he was a hands-on father, changing, feeding and putting Lilly to bed.
"He was always holding her. I'd say 'Put her down' but he would say 'This is my time.'
Abbie, who has a new partner, says she will feel Richard's loss terribly.
"He was very supportive, emotionally and financially, and he got on with everyone. "Lilly looks the image of him. When she was born, he was in Germany and he was on the phone constantly during labour, then for about 45 minutes during the birth – my mum talked him through it. He was shouting down the phone he was so happy." She says Lilly is able to pick out her father on family photographs.
"When his death was reported on the television, she pointed to the screen and said 'Daddy!' When I last spoke to Rich on Christmas Day, he was really happy because they'd flown him to the base where all his friends were. He had thought he'd be on his own. He was saying 'Just three more months and I'll be home'. He couldn't wait to see Lilly again." Before he left, he had bought a sackful of presents for his daughter. Abbie's work colleagues have started a fund to pay for a trip to Disneyland for Lilly-Faith as well as charity Help For Heroes.
Tributes to Abbie's former fiance, who served with the 28 Engineer Regiment , were paid by his commanding officer Lt Col Chas Story who said: "Sapper Walker was hugely respected as a fit, professional soldier with a massive character." His mother Kathryn Walker said: "Richard held two things close to his heart – his daughter and his colleagues.
"A proud, patriotic man, he died doing a job he loved, supporting his friends."
By Marion Brennan
