AN inquest into the death of a Kidderminster bomb disposal expert shot in Iraq in 2003 has been postponed.

Worcestershire coroner Victor Round was due to close the inquest into the death of Ian Rimell on Tuesday but the hearing was cancelled after a key witness failed to appear.

Mr Round said Lou McGrath, executive director of the Mines Advisory Group, who Mr Rimell was working for at the time of his death, was taken ill while travelling to the Stourport hearing.

Mr Rimell, 53, was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in came under fire while travelling to Mosul, in northern Iraq, on September 4, 2003.

The inquest was opened later that month, on September 15.