EXCLUSIVE: My husband died a hero..now I have to raise our boys on just £130 a week
THE widow of a soldier killed by friendly fire in the Iraq War has been told she will get just £130 a week to provide for their two children.
Debi Allbutt's husband Stephen died when his Challenger II tank took a direct hit from another British tank during a fierce battle in Basra.
Debi, 37, has received a one-off Ministry of Defence payment of £22,500 for his death - £2,500 less than Corporal Allbutt's annual salary.
She will now be given the war widow's pension of £130 a week, and will receive a second lump sum payment of about £10,000 at a later date...but is planning to launch a campaign for more.
"I'm luckier than most because I have a good job and we have our own home," says shop manager Debi. "But my husband died fighting for his country and would be absolutely horrified to think he'd left me to worry about money.
"If I'd known I was going to get under £7,000 a year - less than a third of Steve's annual salary - to help bring up our two sons, we would definitely have made other financial provisions.
"It's disgusting to think he gave his life for the Army and yet this is all the Government thinks it's worth. None of us war widows want to be rich - we've lost the most precious thing in our lives - but we just want to be treated fairly."
Debi, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, is campaigning for war widows' rights alongside Lianne Seymour, whose Marine husband Ian died with 11 other soldiers in a helicopter crash at the start of the war.
Lianne, from Poole, Dorset, was asked by the Army to pay back part of her husband's wages and move out of their married quarters. She is now embroiled in a row over his body parts.
A month after Ian, 27, was cremated with full military honours she was told some of his remains were mistakenly sent to the US while others were left at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
"The indignity of what Lianne has been forced to go through since losing her husband is just outrageous," says Debi. "She may even have to face a second funeral.
"For those of us who were advised by the Army not to see our husband's remains, this kind of mix-up must have left a lot of women wondering if they were in the same boat as Lianne.
"I insisted on seeing Steve. I knew it would be upsetting but even in death he had not been given the basic dignity of an embalming which meant his remains had deteriorated so badly I placed what was left of my husband in bags in his coffin. When the inquiry into his death is held, I will be asking fundamental questions not only about how he died in a friendly fire incident, but just how far the Army went in looking after his body."
She said: "It's time the Government starting treating us with some dignity. It's still using welfare tactics that applied to the Second World War when there were thousands of casualties.
"Modern warfare means fewer widows but they are women who deserve dignity and who should be allowed to come to terms with their loss rather than end up fighting for their rights.
"The sense of pride knowing your husband died is part of the grief. The reality is that children grow up without their dads and women are left to cope as best they can."
For Debi and her two sons Josh, 14, and eight-year-old Connor, the six weeks since Stephen's death has prompted a flood of tributes from friends and colleagues. At the family home in Stoke flowers, cards and letters are still arriving. "I knew Stephen wasn't going to come back this time," says Debi. "During the four days before he died on March 25 , I felt ill waiting for something to happen."
Stephen, 35, and his colleague Trooper David Clarke, 19, both in the Queens Royal Lancers, were killed after fire from another British tank blew off their vehicle's turret. Other soldiers in the tank were injured.
"One of Steve's friends was killed in a friendly fire incident during the 1991 Gulf War," says Debi, who would have celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary in September. "My husband's gone but my heart goes out to the wives or partners of the other tank crew."
Debi wants an inquiry into the tragedy to look at why the tank's sophisticated technology failed to prevent the attack.
"The way Steve died doesn't make him any less of a hero in my eyes. He was out there fighting for Queen and country and nothing can diminish his bravery in combat," she said.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/p...O%27S%20FAMILY
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Re: Insult For Hero's Family
Thank god for that 
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