Bradford soldier Christian Hickey died a hero in Iraq perhaps unwittingly saving the lives of his colleagues.

The Sergeant was killed by a heat-activated bomb designed to take out the Army vehicle his patrol were travelling in.

An inquest heard yesterday how the 30-year-old Coldstream Guardsman was leading the patrol on foot in a high risk area of Basra known as bomb alley' when the device blew up in October.

Two "snatch" Land Rovers were providing cover and if Sgt Hickey had not triggered the bomb, the following vehicle would have.

Coroner Geoff Fell said: "The device was obviously targeted at the Army vehicles and the loss of life would have been a lot heavier.

"Although Sgt Hickey would not have been aware, he probably saved members of his patrol from death or serious injury."

The inquest in Harrogate was told that four Iraqi policemen were seen acting suspiciously only metres from the blast which killed Sgt Hickey and injured two others.

An Iraqi police vehicle was parked close to the patrol and they were questioned in the aftermath of the bombing.

Photographs of the policemen have since gone missing and despite an investigation by the Royal Military Police, the men have never been traced.

Captain Gordon Laing, of the RMP, said when they searched the men no devices to activate the bomb were found - although he could not rule out them working with a third party.

The police were wearing mis-matched uniforms, their car was not properly marked, and they could not say which station they were based at.

Despite their suspicions, an Iraqi colonel later vouched for them and they were released.

Sgt Hickey's widow Gemma, who now lives in Catterick, said: " I just can't understand how someone may have been involved and they work for the Iraqi police, but now they have just disappeared and no one knows where they are."

However, in recording a verdict of unlawful killing, Mr Fell said there was no evidence to suggest the Iraqi police were involved.

Second Lieutenant James Spelling, of the Royal Horse Artillery, was also injured in the bomb blast.

He told the inquest: "I think they were trying to get as many of us as they could. If we had been in the Land Rover it probably would have got the front vehicle. "

He said procedures had been "rejigged" since the bomb attack - which was one of the first cases of this kind involving a device activated by infra-red sensor. Troops in Iraq are now supplied with new technology to "jam" them.

Coroner Geoff Fell praised Sgt Hickey saying he commanded a "textbook" mission.

He said: "We are not at war in the legal sense. We haven't declared war and because we are not at war there can be no justification for whoever was responsible for the device that killed Chris Hickey."

Sgt Hickey, of East Bierley, was only days away from completing a six month tour and returning home.

The night he died he was about to hand over to a new regiment and was clearing a route ahead of a 20-truck supply convoy.

After the hearing his mother Pauline Hickey told the Telegraph & Argus: "The inquest was a day we had been dreading but it has cleared up a lot of questions for us.

"I still think there should be a Military Board of Inquiry, which looks at the lessons that have been learned."

After the inquest his widow Gemma paid tribute to her husband: "The five years I had with Chris were the happiest of my life and I feel privileged to have been lucky enough to have shared them with him.

"Chris loved the Army, he was passionate about his battalion, the Coldstream Guards, and was never happier than when he was among them, doing the job he loved.

"It is a tragedy that a person as big' as Chris was, has had his life taken from him in such a cowardly and underhand way, by the very people he was just out to help. It is a bitter pill to swallow.

"One thing that does give me comfort is Chris and the other servicemen and women who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will always be loved and remembered, which cannot be said for the cowards who killed them."