MAJOR David Jones may be hundreds of miles away from his home and family while serving with the British forces in Iraq but it's not stopping him keeping up to date with all the latest local news.

David, aged 35, a territorial officer from Stoke Prior in Bromsgrove, wrote to us asking if we could send him a copy of his favourite community newspaper every week while he is serving with the coalition forces.

And we were happy to oblige.

Command

He is in command of 225 (City of Birmingham) Plant Squadron Royal Engineers, who are based at Oldbury. He was mobilised in February as part of the 36 Engineer Regiment.

David says he has found his time in Iraq "extremely interesting" but is looking forward to being reunited with his wife Wendy and their twins Hannah and Sophie.

He had hoped to stand as Labour's candidate in the new St John's ward in tomorrow (Thursday's) local elections.

But knowing he was being sent to the Gulf he filled out his nomination papers too early and was disqualified.

In his letter to us, which accompanies this photo of himself, it is clear he still believes he is a candidate.

Labour's election agent Sean Shannon says he has written to David to explain the situation but mail from Britain is taking two months to reach Iraq.