Kingsman Alan Jones was killed, aged 20, in Iraq this week, just one of the 145 British soldiers who have died in this ill-conceived conflict. His death went largely unnoticed in the bloodiest month endured by British soldiers - another grim statistic, another coffin sent home, another grieving family, another young man who died in vain

There has been no fanfare for Alan Jones, a young British soldier who set off for Iraq with determination and purpose five months ago, but who is now to be flown home in a coffin.

There were pockets of grief yesterday in his home city of Liverpool, where friends and family mourned the man they called "the soul of the platoon" . There were the thoughts of a mother who had been preparing for her son's 21st birthday party, but who instead must now bury him.

To the rest of the world, Kingsman Jones, who was killed during a " routine" patrol in Basra, will be just one more coffin in a long procession. His death takes the British toll in the conflict to 112 since President George Bush officially declared victory in Iraq. Eleven soldiers have been killed in April alone, the heaviest toll since the invasion in 2003. The country has not the time to mourn them all as they deserve.

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