SAS soldier Robert Lyon, killed in a Land Rover accident in Bosnia, was engaged to be married later this year, it emerged today.

Sgt Lyon, 30, who was from the Didcot area, was part of an elite team running seek-and-destroy missions against Serb death squads in Kosovo when the accident happened.

Two other SAS men with him escaped serious injury.

Sgt Lyon's mum Penny was being comforted by family and friends and was too upset to talk about her son's death.

But a family friend, who asked not to be identified, said she was "extremely devasted". Sgt Lyon, due to marry in the autumn, went to school in the area and was in the Army cadets and the scouts. The friend said: "Everyone knew he loved the Army and a lot of people thought he was attached to one of the special squadrons.

"This is extremely hard for her as her husband died two years ago from a stroke."

In line with the secrecy surrounding the SAS, neither the Ministry of Defence nor anyone at the regiment's Hereford headquarters would discuss the accident, although the MoD did say no other vehicle was involved.

Sgt Lyon's team was part of the elite A-Squadron operating out of Bosnia - a launchpad for missions against Slobodan Milosevic's forces in neighbouring Serbia and Kosovo. Sgt Lyon died near the town of Prozor, 100 miles from the Serbian border. He was on attachment with the 22 SAS Regiment at the Allies' HQ in Banja Luca.

It was not clear whether his unit's specially-adapted Land Rover - a heavily armoured vehicle carrying a fearsome array of weapons - was travelling to or from the battle zone.

Story date: Friday 14 May

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.