A security officer was crushed to death when a roadside bomb flipped an articulated lorry on top of his gun truck.

David Vine was on his last tour of duty working for a private security firm when he was killed instantly in the blast, an inquest heard today.

Tonight his grieving mother called on all the contractors and British troops caught up in the Iraq conflict to come home - as a coroner labelled those responsible for his death as murderers.

Mr Vine, of Parkside Road, Seaford, would have celebrated his 30th birthday on Sunday.

Mum Rachel Sellence, also of Parkside Road, Seaford, said: "We're helping the country out and David got blown up for it.

"Obviously it's a very dangerous situation out there and a lot worse than what the Government was saying at the time.

"I think they should just leave them all out there to look after themselves. Too many people are being killed. It's time to pull our people out."

Mr Vine was trying to protect a ten-strong convoy transporting pre-moulded building structures to help in the reconstruction effort when he was killed.

Travelling in an armoured Ford 350 pick-up truck, his convoy had already been fired upon by insurgents and hit by an explosive device during the perilous journey from Abu Ghraib, near Baghdad, to the northern city of Mosul.

Twenty minutes before his death he and his fellow officers had engaged in a roadside gun battle, yet they continued to press on, the inquest was told.

The convoy was approaching Tikrit when a second convoy passed in the opposite direction. A bomb went off, launching a lorry into the air and onto Mr Vine's vehicle.

Three Iraqi officers were also killed in the attack.

In a statement read out to the inquest at Eastbourne Magistrates' Court, security officer Neal Taylor described the horrific scene.

He said: "I saw an articulated lorry impaled on top of David's truck. The truck had disintegrated. David was inverted into the seat with huge injuries to his head and elsewhere."

Having joined the Parachute Regiment at 18, Mr Vine had served in Ireland, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Kosovo and Iraq.

He joined security firm ArmorGroup hoping to earn enough money in a year to put down a deposit on a home, Mrs Sellence said.

"He said the next tour he did was going to be his last," she added.

Mr Vine had been caught by a bomb blast and thrown against a wall, injuring his knee, just weeks before he was killed on October 30, 2006.

His mother said he knew the situation in the country was getting worse.

Established in 1982, ArmorGroup employs 9,000 staff and operates in 38 countries.

Christopher Beese, ArmorGroup's chief administrative officer, said his teams of officers had been experiencing "widespread attacks" at the time.

He said: "It is quite expected to encounter small arms fire or an improvised explosive device.

"The incident that happened earlier on in the patrol was easily overcome after a time, but the incident in which Mr Vine died was unique.

"This was possibly the most difficult period during the Iraq conflict to date."

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze said: "I don't think there can be any doubt that David knew what risks he was running and it's a tribute to his bravery that he would run these risks for the people of Iraq while knowing perfectly well what could happen to him."

A post-mortem examination of Mr Vine's body carried out by pathologist Dr Christopher Moffat at Eastbourne District General Hospital found he had died instantly from multiple injuries.

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, Mr Craze said: "This was murder. Nothing else. There's no point using any other word."

Mrs Sellence added: "Our David kept his work separate from his home life. That's the way he liked it.

"I knew it would be murder but they'll never catch the killer will they?

"We think about him every day. There's not a day goes past we don't. It will be his 30th birthday on Sunday. We'll celebrate it in some form and think about the nice, kind person he was."

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