A DESERT Rat shot in the chest at point blank range by bank robbers in Basra was on his way home today.

Lance Sergeant Robert Giles had been on patrol in Iraq's second city when five armed robbers burst out of a bank amid a volley of bullets.

British troops returned fire, killing all five, but not before one robber armed with a Kalashnikov shot L/Sgt Giles in the chest through his flak jacket.

His father, Colin Giles, said shards of the jacket had become lodged in his son's lungs after the incident on Thursday afternoon.

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

Mr Giles received a phone call at 3am on Friday to say his son had been shot but had an agonising seven-hour wait to find out the 32-year-old Irish Guard was alive.

"Now that he wasn't part of the fighting any more, we thought most of the worrying was over," said the 65-year-old, of Powick. "At 10 that morning, I had a call and there was gasping on the other end.

"I thought someone was taking the mickey, but it was my son calling from a field hospital in Iraq. He could barely breathe.

"He called again on Sunday and sounded better, but still had difficulty breathing."

L/Sgt Giles was in a critical but stable condition and was expected to arrive at a Birmingham hospital by 4am today.

Gerry Robinson, landlord of The Three Nuns in Powick, where the Desert Rat is a regular, said the soldier would return to a hero's welcome.

"There've been quite a few people asking about him and wishing him the best," he said. "Everyone knows him. He's a smashing kid."

He had performed peace-keeping in Kosovo and Northern Ireland, but Mr Giles said his son should not have been policing the streets after weeks of battle.

"All the people criticising the soldiers for not doing the peacekeeping should be criticising Mr Blair and his mates for not have a contingency plan," he said.