Widow of soldier says Prime Minister to blame for his death

The wife of the British soldier killed in Iraq yesterday blamed Tony Blair for his death.

The wife of the British soldier killed in Iraq yesterday blamed Tony Blair for his death.

Ann Toward stated that the death of her husband, Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield, could have been averted had the Prime Minister not sent troops to Iraq.

Describing her heartache at the loss of a husband and father of three children, she said: "Blair sent the troops over and he should not have done it. If it was not for that, the children's dad would have been here today."

Ms Toward told ITV News that she planned to confront the Prime Minister over his foreign policy and tell him directly: "You should not have sent the troops over."

When asked if she blamed the Prime Minister directly for the death of her husband, she added: "Yes."

Guardsman Wakefield, 24, from 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards, died after a bomb exploded on his patrol near the southern town of al-Amarah at about midnight Iraqi time on Sunday. He was the first British soldier to die in hostile action in the south of Iraq since last September, bringing the number of British service personnel killed in hostile action since the start of the Iraqi conflict to 50.

Ms Toward, from Newcastle, last spoke to her husband at Easter and had urged him to leave the army because she feared for his safety.

"I did not want him to go, I said 'don't go, you don't have to go'," she said. "But he said it was his job, so he went. He loved the job. He said it was his job to go to Iraq."

Paying tribute to her "very brave" husband, she added: "He was outgoing, he was funny, he had a sense of humour, he was really fun to be with, he was a great father as well."