THE body of a British officer killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has been flown back to the UK.

Meanwhile, a moving tribute was paid to 27-year-old Lieutenant Richard Palmer in Durham on Saturday, where he was a former student.

He was the 104th member of the Army to be killed since the start of the conflict in March 2003.

Lt Palmer, of Ware, Hertfordshire, was leading a joint patrol with the Iraqi Army when his vehicle was caught by the explosion near the town of Ad Dayr on Easter Saturday. His coffin, draped in a Union flag, was flown into RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, over the weekend.

Lt Palmer joined the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards after he graduated from Durham University.

A student at St Hild and St Bede College from 2000 to 2003, he graduated with a degree in social sciences.

The college, in company with members of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Association, remembered Lt Palmer during its annual Sounding of Retreat ceremony.

Staged around a war memorial on the Bede Lawns, in the college grounds, the event is dedicated to the memory of Bede College members of the DLI killed during the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge during the First World War.

College principal Dr Alan Pearson said college staff were deeply saddened to hear of his death.

He said: "For more than 90 years, we have been remembering the people from the college who died in the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge, and the sad thing is that it is still going on."