John Hyde walked from Colchester to Northallerton to raise funds (From The Northern Echo)

John Hyde walked from Colchester to Northallerton to raise funds

9:53am Monday 26th July 2010 in

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A FATHER whose son, Lance Corporal Ben Hyde, above, was murdered in Iraq has raised thousands of pounds for a charity set up in his name.

John Hyde set off from Colchester, in Essex, on July 11 and walked 240 miles back to his home in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, arriving on Saturday.

During the two-week walk he was accompanied by friends and trust supporters, Noele and Irene Christon, and the three carried a soldier dummy on a stretcher throughout.

They arrived at Northallerton Town Hall to a civic reception.

The walk raised £6,000 for the Lance Corporal Ben Hyde Memorial Trust that Mr Hyde set up in 2006. The fund has raised thousands of pounds for the Royal Military Police Benevolent Fund, as well as £30,000 for local good causes.

L/Cpl Hyde was one of six Red Caps killed by a mob in a police station in Marjah al Kabir, near Basra, in June 2003. He was 23.

Mr Hyde said: “We got good support on the way.

“We had motorists supporting and helping us out and we have had a lot of support from the local media, which obviously is important because it lets people know what we are doing. The support generally we received en route, particularly from our service personnel, was because we were raising funds for a charity that has links with the services.”

Nine people accused of murdering L/Cpl Hyde and his comrades are due to go on trial in Baghdad later this year.

PICTURED: Mr Hyde was accompanied by friend Irene Christon, front. Also pictured, back, from left, Northallerton Deputy Mayor Jane Harvey, Noele Christon, Sandra Hyde, Otti Goldsbrough, Councillor Tony Hall and Mayor Sally Anderson, kneeling.