A WAR widow who received a national award for helping forces families deal with bereavement last night welcomed the closure of the News of the World.

Mother-of-two Karen Upton, of Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was speaking after allegations emerged that relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan had had their phones hacked.

Mrs Upton’s husband, Warrant Officer Sean Upton, of 5th Regiment Royal Artillery, was killed by a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan, in July 2009.

She was named the Mum of the Year by Tesco earlier this year for her work with the Army Benevolent Fund and the Forces Children’s Trust.

When told of News International’s decision to close the News of the World last night, she replied: “Good.”

Mrs Upton continued: “I think what has happened is disgusting.

“Families who have lost loved ones do not need any more heartache or devastation piled on top of what they have been through.”

Sandra Johnson, from Stockton, the mother of Sergeant Lee Johnson, 33, of the Second Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, who was killed by a bomb blast in Helmand province in December 2007, said she was shocked by phone hacking allegations.

“For the people that are involved I think it is absolutely terrible,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

John Miller, the father of military policeman Corporal Simon Miller, 21, of Washington, Wearside, who was one of six Red Caps killed by a mob in Iraq in 2003, said he had suspicions his phone had been tapped about four years ago.

He said: “This incident was the most controversial incident since the Second World War. It wouldn’t surprise me that our phone lines were tapped.”

He added: “For any parent to have a child who has been murdered is unimaginable.

But for it to happen abroad is even worse.

“To prey on this is an unbelievable tactic. Words are beyond me, it is below the belt and disgusting.

“When families go through something like this they comfort each other.

“To think that anyone would want to listen into an emotional phone call of people grieving is terrible and sickening – to the grounds of perverse.”

His comments were echoed by Reg Keys, whose son, Tom, also died in the massacre.

Mr Keys, from North Wales, said he was sure someone listened in to phone conversations that he had with other bereaved relatives.

He said: “I have no doubt whatsoever that people listened to our conversations.

“You could hear a click when we started talking.

“I never for one moment thought it was a newspaper doing it. Maybe I got that completely wrong.”