Family devastated by death of ITV man in southern Iraq

Mar 26 2003 By Owen Hughes, Bangor And Anglesey Mail

A GRIEVING relative of ITV reporter Terry Lloyd, who died in Iraq, has described him as "the bravest man I ever knew".

Ray Tomlinson, of Bethesda, told the Bangor Mail that the family were devastated by the loss of his cousin, who died when his film unit came under fire from Allied troops in southern Iraq.

Mr Tomlinson, who first heard of his cousin's death on Teletext news, said: "The whole family is devastated by his death, we are all very sad indeed. He was always a very brave man, perhaps in the end he was too brave."

Terry and his brother Kevin, who went on to play DC Tosh Lynes in The Bill, frequently visited the family farm in Ysbyty Ifan, near Betws-y-Coed. Kevin died in 1998.

Mr Tomlinson, 62, of Coetmor Road, said: "Myself and my brother knew them both very well and we were very close to them, especially when we were growing up in North Wales as teenagers.

"To lose them both is terrible." Mr Lloyd, 51, was killed on the weekend in the southern war front in Iraq while he and his three colleagues were driving towards Basra. It is believed Allied forces attacked the two vehicles they were in after mistaking them for Iraqi irregulars. The two vehicles had been joined by another two, containing Iraqi soldiers.

An ITN statement said: "When the Allied troops saw four vehicles going down a road in the same direction and saw that one of them contained armed Iraqi soldiers, they took this group of vehicles to be a group of irregulars - and opened fire on the journalists."

ITV bosses arestilltrying to recover Mr Lloyd's body from a hospital in Basra, which is still under Iraqi control.

Mr Lloyd earned a reputation as a fearless journalist, having reported from war zones around the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo and Yugoslavia.