MARINES made a "superhuman" effort to save a Carlton man who was killed on patrol in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Martin Gill, 22, had been in Afghanistan for just two months when he was killed in July last year.

L/Cpl Gill, of Kensington Gardens, Carlton, was shot in the head and neck. He was almost certainly killed instantly – but fellow Marines carried him over a ditch filled with waist-height water so that he could be airlifted to hospital.

At a Nottingham inquest into his death, Coroner Mairin Casey said: "It seems almost a superhuman thing to have done."

The court heard that L/Cpl Gill had been on a routine patrol to obtain biometric data, like photographs and fingerprints, from locals in the village of Adensee, in Helmand province.

The foot patrol was getting ready to leave when two rounds of fire came at them.

A statement from Lieutenant Colonel Ewen Murchison, commanding officer of 49 Commando, hailed L/Cpl Gill as "a true hero" with a "bright future".

He said: "He died taking the fight to the enemy in the true spirit of the Royal Marines."

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, Miss Casey paid tribute to the Marines who were with L/Cpl Gill when he died.

"You did everything you possibly could to save his life," she said.

A statement on behalf of L/Cpl Gill's family also praised the Marines' efforts.

It said: "We realise this was a loss to them and not just our family."

• FULL STORY: Inquest hears of the last minutes of Lance Corporal Martin Gill's life