A DESERT rat shot in the chest at point-blank range by bank robbers in Basra is recovering at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital today.

L/Sgt Robert Giles' parents Colin and Edna have been sitting at their son's bedside since he arrived back in Britain.

They said he was still in incredible pain and that doctors were now working hard to clear his lungs of blood and fluid.

The 32-year-old Irish Guardsman had been on patrol in Iraq's second city when five armed robbers burst out of a bank amid a volley of bullets.

Despite British troops killing all five, one robber armed with a Kalashnikov shot L/Sgt Giles in the chest through his flak jacket.

The unmarried tank commander also lost part of his finger, suffered burned hands and was hit by shrapnel in his eye.

Mr Giles, aged 65 from Powick, said shards of the jacket had become lodged in his son's lungs after the incident on Thursday afternoon.

"Although it is a serious injury, luckily the gun shot went into the front of his chest and straight out the back and didn't hit any vital organs," said Mr Giles.

Internal bleeding

"I've managed to speak to him. His injuries are starting to heal, but the worst thing is the pain he is suffering.

"He is still suffering from internal bleeding and doctors are having to keep him pumped full of morphine."

Mr Giles said the only reason his son was still alive now was thanks to an army doctor, who while still under fire managed to perform an emergency operation - putting a plastic tube straight into L/Sgt Giles' lungs to begin draining the blood and fluid away.

Colin and Edna plan to visit their son again today and are taking a welcome home celebration cake to share with patients on the ward.

6 Injured Royal Marine commander Kevin Jones will be mourning fellow soldier Christopher Maddison, whose funeral takes place today.

Twenty-five year old Kevin, from Worcester, was recovering at a hospital in Cyprus after he was hit by shrapnel during a gun battle on the Al Faw Peninsula last weekend.

But his comrade 24-year-old Christopher Maddison was killed during the same river patrol ambush. He will be buried at St Mary's Church in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, with full military honours.