Stephen Allbutt: Parade marks 20 years since Iraq death

Corporal Stephen Allbutt died in 2003 in a "friendly fire" incident

A war widow has organised a parade and service to mark the 20th anniversary of when her husband was killed in a "friendly fire" incident in Iraq.

Cpl Stephen Allbutt died aged 35, on 25 March 2003, after the Challenger 2 tank he was in was hit by a shell from another British tank.

His wife Debi Allbutt has arranged Saturday's event in a memorial garden near their Stoke-on-Trent home.

It has been 20 years since the US and allied forces invaded Iraq.

Debi Allbutt argued the Ministry of Defence failed to protect her husband from the risk of friendly fire

"I'm hoping that he hasn't died in vain, because I've tried to make a change for military families. I hope that will become his legacy," Mrs Allbutt said.

"I will get justice and I will stop this from happening again," Ms Allbutt added.

Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis and Stoke-on-Trent City Councillor Candi Chetwynd are helping with a memorial to her husband.

In 2012, relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq won rights to sue the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

They argued the MoD failed to provide armoured vehicles or equipment which could have saved lives and should pay compensation.

Ms Allbutt argued the tank that killed her husband was not equipped with available technology to protect them from the risk of friendly fire.

An inquest into Cpl Allbutt's death, held in Oxfordshire in July 2007, heard he died from multiple injuries and that a top Army officer's handling of the incident was "fatally flawed."