COLLEAGUES of an Oxfordshire soldier fatally injured as she tried to defuse a bomb in Afghanistan were yesterday praised for risking their lives to help her.

Captain Lisa Jade Head, of Didcot-based 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, the Royal Logistic Corps, lost her limbs in the blast in an alleyway in Helmand Province last April.

The 29-year-old was flown home and treated in hospital in Birmingham, where she died the next day.

Yesterday at Bradford Coroner’s Court, Coroner Paul Marks told the inquest into Capt Head’s death that it was “testament to her own physical stamina” and the quality of care she survived for as long as she did.

He then praised colleagues who went to her aid after the explosion.

Professor Marks told her colleague Corporal Adam Tucker: “At potential risk to your own lives, you went to the help of one of your fallen comrades and did your absolute best. I commend you on that.”

Cpl Tucker told the inquest he and Capt Head had gone to the alleyway in Nahr-e-Saraj after reports of a suspicious device being found.

He said Capt Head defused one bomb before retreating to a safe distance. She returned into the alleyway with a colleague to take photographs when a second device partially exploded, resulting in no injuries.

The soldier said Capt Head returned into the alleyway again and a third device detonated.

Cpl Tucker said he grabbed a weapon, medical kit and metal detector to search down to Capt Head but, when the dust cleared, he realised there was no time to search safely. “We took the risk and ran down to Capt Head,” he said. “On arrival to Capt Head, we realised she was a quadruple amputee and time was limited.”

He described how he and a colleague applied at least nine tourniquets and field dressings to her wounds before she was airlifted to hospital at Camp Bastion.

The inquest was told Capt Head lost both legs, one arm above the elbow and digits on her other hand.

The cause of death was given as blast injuries caused by an explosion, including head injury.

Colonel Gareth Collett, an Army bomb disposal expert, praised the professionalism of Capt Head, who was only the second female British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan.

“Why did she decide to go back? The simple answer is that she is a professional soldier,” he said.

Col Collett commended the actions of the soldiers who rushed to Capt Head’s aid, allowing her to make it back to Britain so her family could see her before she died.

Prof Marks recorded a verdict that Capt Head was unlawfully killed on active service.

The coroner praised the officer, originally from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, for her courage.

He said: “I cannot praise too highly the courage of Lisa Head and her colleagues. The reason for this is because they are all volunteers deployed in a theatre of war far from home and family for our continuing benefit and security.”