AN inspiring humanitarian aid worker brutally gunned down by Taliban soldiers was this afternoon described as “bold, beautiful and beaming” by her grieving husband.

Dave Gooderham

AN inspiring humanitarian aid worker brutally gunned down by Taliban soldiers was this afternoon described as “bold, beautiful and beaming” by her grieving husband.

Glowing tributes by family, friends and colleagues have been paid to Dr Jacqueline Kirk at a packed funeral held in the Suffolk village where her parents live.

Speaking at the service, her husband Andrew Kirk said he had been inundated with touching messages of support that spoke warmly of his wife's passion, intelligence and compassion.

Dr Kirk, whose parents Brian and Ann Aket live in Norton, near Bury St Edmunds, was killed in cold blood along with three colleagues after they were ambushed in the Logar province of Afghanistan.

A former pupil at Thurston Upper School, Dr Kirk had helped thousands of people recover from danger zones particularly focusing on the education of women and children throughout the world.