THE MINISTRY of Defence has confirmed the death of Private Thomas Sephton, 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment, who died in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, on Monday 5 July of wounds sustained during service in Afghanistan.

Private Sephton had been in Afghanistan serving as part of Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (North) when he was wounded in an explosion whilst on patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province on Sunday 4 July.

His patrol was providing protection for the clearance of a road in the Upper Gereshk Valley.

Pte Sephton received treatment on site and at Camp Bastion before being flown to the UK for further treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he succumbed to his injuries.

Pte Thomas Sephton was 20-years-old and from Warrington.

He enlisted into the Army in July 2008 and joined the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire) [1 MERCIAN] in January 2009.

He joined Mortar Platoon and served in the United Kingdom, The Falkland Islands and Kenya, and in Afghanistan.