Hero's fiancée gets her dream house

The fiancée of a fallen Midland soldier has moved into her 'dream' home after wellwishers in his home town rallied round to help.

Emma-Jayne Webster had been planning to renovate the house with her partner Lance Corporal Richard Brandon when he returned from Afghanistan.

But her plans for a future together in their new home were shattered when the 24-year-old soldier and father was killed by a roadside bomb while on a tour of Helmand Province last September.

L/Cpl Brandon had bought the rundown property in Winterfold Close, Kidderminster, before he went off to war with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

The property was uninhabitable and in desperate need of renovation and the couple planned to gradually upgrade the building on his return from Afghanistan.

But following his untimely death, Miss Webster was left in her rented two-bedroom community housing property with sons Liam and Martyn plus her daughter with Richard, Kaitlin.

Wyre Forest Community Housing chiefs, however, came to her aid and pushed through a renovation plan at Winterfold Close - at no extra cost to its tenants - as a thank-you for Mr Brandon's service.

Workers at agencies across the district fitted the kitchen, changed the interior and exterior doors, re-wired the electrics and generally tidied up the property.

"It's absolutely wonderful," said Miss Webster.

"It's a dream home for the family and we're so grateful to everyone who has helped us through what has, obviously, been a very difficult time. The kids love it and my four-year-old daughter Kaitlin is ecstatic with her room. In our old house, we really didn't have the space and now it's given the family a much better quality of life."

A spokesman for the community housing group said: "We felt we needed to show our respect to one of our heroes.

"We just hope that this gesture will help Emma-Jayne's family and give them some comfort in their hour of need."