The policeman father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan is appealing for his colleagues to send food to the front line.

PC Paul Gamble, 53, based at Gatwick, is asking officers to donate to Parcels For Paras, a national campaign to send rations to serving soldiers.

Private Daniel Gamble, 22, from Uckfield, was killed alongside two colleagues on June 8, just two and a half weeks before his 23rd birthday.

He served with the elite 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment from October 2006 and was selected to learn the Pashto language so he could speak to Afghans.

PC Gamble, who used to send parcels to his son, has introduced collection boxes at Sussex police stations to encourage his colleagues to donate.

He said: "On the front line all they have is their rations. We had been sending food packs to Daniel.

"A bag of sweets is just brilliant.

"The Parcels For Paras collection has snowballed with companies in Uckfield, where we live, and at the airport wanting to do something.

"Others will gain from Daniel's death, which is what he would have wanted.

"I have had overwhelming support from Sussex Police. Everyone has pulled out the stops to make Daniel's death a positive thing."

The collection campaign in the stations was also launched by PC Gamble's wife Georgina, 49, head of the School of Beauty at Lewisham College in London, and colleague Sergeant Al Cleland.

Sgt Cleland said: "Colleagues have been asking if they contribute to any fund.

"The Parcels For Paras is something which Paul, his wife Georgina and I came up with to try to help the paras out there in Afghanistan.

"People are donating items of non-perishable food, drinks, sun lotion, moisturiser, wet wipes, socks and so on so we can make up parcels, under 2kg, which are sent free to those paras still out there."

Pte Gamble died when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.

He went to speak to a local Afghan and was attacked and killed alongside Pte Nathan Cuthbertson, 19, from Sunderland, and Pte Charles Murray, 19, from Dumfries.

About 1,000 people lined the streets ahead of his funeral on June 26 at Holy Cross Church in Uckfield, where he was hailed a hero and buried with full military honours.

Pte Gamble's neighbours have set up the Private Daniel Gamble Memorial Fund to raise money for military charities, including an appeal to set up a new wing at a military hospital in Afghanistan.

Donations can be made via NatWest bank in High Street, Uckfield.