THE proud dad of a soldier killed in Afghanistan has made a permanent tribute to his son.

Stephen Thrumble of Steeple Road, Mayland, has honoured the memory of his soldier son by having a self-portrait of him tattooed on his left shoulder.

Private John Thrumble, 21, who was a member of 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed alongside Privates Aaron McClure and Robert Foster, both 19, in a "friendly fire" incident on August 23 last year.

The tattoo was completed over about eight or nine hours by Giselle Stock, tattooist at Shamanic Body Art in West Cliff, who said it was a "privilege" to do.

She copied a photo which Pte Thrumble had took of himself while he was in the notorious Helmand Province.

His face is flanked by red and yellow roses which are symbols of the Royal Anglian Regiment and below it is a line from the World War One poem, The Fallen Ending, which reads "We will remember them".

Mr Thrumble already has a number of tattoos but explained he and John had talked about getting matching ones when he returned from his tour.

He said: "John was up for that so I was going to design something for us.

"I was looking forward to doing that with him when he got home, but we didn't get him back.

"The photo is one of many he took out there, I'll always remember it being a great picture and thought it would make a fantastic tattoo.

"I took a number of pictures to the artist and even she said it would make a great one (tattoo)."

He said it was a funny sort of pain but it was all worth it.

He added: "I wanted something to remember John by and this is my way of wearing my heart on my sleeve."