The body of the first female soldier to be killed in Afghanistan returned to British soil today.

The plane carrying the body of Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, killed last Tuesday with three SAS reservists, landed at RAF Lyneham.

Her family attended a repratriation ceremony at the base before a hearse carried her body out through Wootton Bassett, where hundreds of people gathered in silence to pay tribute.

Cumbria-born Cpl Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, described by her family as their own Angel of the North, was killed while taking part in an operation east of Lashkar Gah when her Land Rover was hit by a mine.

She died along with Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, 28, of the Royal Signals, and Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Paul Stout, 31.

Cpl Bryant had been in the army for six years and was based in Chicksands, Bedfordshire, as part of the Intelligence Corps' Psychological Operations Group.

She deployed to Afghanistan on March 15 2008 with 152 Delta Psychological Operations Effects Team in support of the Helmand Task Force within the PSE, serving with the Headquarters of 16 Air Assault Brigade as the Target Audience Analyst.

She had also served in Iraq.

Cpl Bryant's army officer husband Cpl Carl Bryant, to whom she had been married for just two years, said of her: "Although I am devastated beyond words at the death of my beautiful wife Sarah, I am so incredibly proud of her.

"She was an awesome soldier who died doing the job that she loved. My wife knew the risks, she was there because she wanted to be, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"She was funny, kind and the most amazing person to be around, I will never stop being thankful for the time I spent as her husband.

"I love her now and always, with all my heart, as do her proud parents, friends and family.

"My wife was a truly special person who died a hero. Sarah, as with all our fallen, must never be forgotten."