FRIENDS of a bomb disposal expert killed in Afghanistan have raised almost £35,000 for his family.

Warrant officer Gary O’Donnell, 40, of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps, based at Vauxhall Barracks, Didcot, died from blast wounds after a device he was trying to defuse exploded in Musa Qala, in September.

This week, troops from the Foxhall Road barracks said they were “flabbergasted” by the generosity of Oxfordshire people during a string of fundraising efforts in the bomb disposal technician’s memory.

Money, which is still being collected, will be given to his widow for the couple’s four children, Cayleigh, 16, Dylan, 14, Aiden, nine, and seven-month-old Ben.

The largest sum was raised when 240 servicemen pulled a 13-tonne bomb disposal truck nine miles from Abingdon to Didcot, on St George’s Day – raising £20,000.

Organiser Major John Balding, said: “I was flabbergasted with the generosity of the people of Didcot and Abingdon.

“It’s very impressive.”

A fundraiser at the Old Black Horse pub in St Clement’s, Oxford, at which people were able to use bomb disposal equipment, raised £1,500.