Julian Thorn died ‘instantly’ in a car crash in Ukraine (Picture: PA)
A former British soldier who had been helping people on the Ukraine-Poland border has been killed in a car crash.
Julian Thorn, also known as Jay, had travelled to the war-torn country to ‘share the skills’ he had learnt after serving in the Fusiliers and during tours of Afghanistan.
The 36-year-old, from Hexham, Northumberland, had been helping refugees and training Ukrainian fighters to use military equipment sent from the UK.
His death was confirmed by a colleague in Ukraine and the Foreign Office, and his family said he had died ‘instantly’ in the crash.
Louise and Julian had been going out for four years (Picture: PA)
Mr Thorn’s fiancée Louise Lathbury is now facing costs of thousands of pounds to bring his body back from Ukraine.
She said: ‘It would mean everything because we need to bring him back whole.
‘He needs to come back and he needs to be him and so then we can do what’s right for him when we get him home.
‘I want him to have a nice send-off and be where he loved – he loved Hadrian’s Wall and he loved Northumberland and I just want him to come back and be in the place he loved so much.’
Julian served in tours in Afghanistan (Picture: PA)
Ms Lathbury was told of her partner’s death on May 21 – the day she had made a wedding ring as a surprise – and she now wonders if she had ‘tempted fate’.
She said: ‘To be honest I didn’t believe it was real and I did ask, “Are you sure it’s him? Are you sure it’s him?”
‘But the other thing is we were talking about the wedding and everything and I’d made his wedding ring on that Sunday – and then you think, did I tempt fate by making it?
‘You do, you think silly things like that when it happens. I was devastated – it was a surprise and I was going to give it to him when he got back.’
Ms Lathbury, who had been going out with Mr Thorn for four years, has now set up a GoFundMe, hoping to raise £15,000 for the repatriation of his body.
Any money left over from the campaign would be donated to another family also attempting to repatriate a loved one’s body, and to an animal charity.
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His fiancée had just made his wedding ring as a surprise.
