THE body of an RAF pilot whose father worked in Ellesmere Port has been returned to the base where he served.

Flight Lieutenant Allan James Squires was one of 14 service personnel with 120 Squadron killed aboard the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft which crashed recently in Afghanistan.

The 39-year-old father of two, based at RAF Kinloss in Moray, Scotland, was piloting the aircraft on its final mission. The accident was the biggest single loss of British service personnel since the Falklands.

His parents, Brian and Anne Squires, lived in Buckley until eight years ago when they moved to Colby on the Isle of Man, to be close to family.

Before his retirement Brian worked for Gulf Oil in Ellesmere Port.

His parents flew from the Isle of Man to be with their daughter-in-law Adele and grandchildren Abbie, seven, and four-year-old Graeme, at their home in Nairn.

Service personnel bodies are usually flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire for the repatriation ceremony but at the 14 families' request were taken to Kinloss.

Allan started his career with an RAF assisted scholarship. After an intensive six-week flying course at East Midlands Airport and just six hours of flight time he flew solo for the first time.

No-one survived when the Nimrod crashed carrying 12 RAF personnel, one Royal Marine and a soldier.