TEARS AS A BRAVE TEENAGE ‘LION OF ENGLAND’ IS BURIED

His death is being investigated as a possible “friendly fire” fatality. Kingsman Sean Dawson, 19, was shot in the head while ambushing insurgents on ­Valentine’s Day.

A sniper with 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s ­Regiment – known as the Lions of England – he was just five weeks into his first tour of duty in the war zone.

The soldier’s father, also Sean and himself a Royal Navy veteran, walked behind the hearse carrying his son’s coffin to St Paul’s Church in his home town of Stalybridge near Manchester. He was overcome with grief.

Veteran soldiers, schoolchildren and serving servicemen mixed with hundreds of mourners who lined the route, packed the church, spilling outside where the service was relayed on a big screen.

His father, in a tribute inside the service card, wrote: “We really can’t say in words how much we will miss him and how much we love him.

“Our footsteps through life will be slightly slower now, as we carry your memory within heavy hearts.”

Only the toll of the church bell and sobbing of a female mourner broke the silence as his coffin was carried into the church. It was followed by his father, mother Karen, younger ­brothers and sisters, Jack, James, Anna, Danielle and Summer.

Girlfriend Sadie Adams said she feared the worst when he did not call on ­Valentine’s Day.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robbie Boyd, said ­Kingsman Dawson had fallen in battle “with dignity, painlessly” ­taking the fight to his foes.”