A campaign is underway to allow the widow of a Gurkha soldier to remain in Canterbury.

Uma Dura’s husband Krishnabahadur, a colour sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was killed when the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle he was in was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last month.

The 36-year-old was based in Folkestone, but his wife and two daughters, aged four and 11, had been living at Howe Barracks in Canterbury.

The elder daughter is a pupil at Kingsmead School and both children were born in the UK.

Home Office rules do not automatically allow the widows of Gurkhas to remain in the country.

Politicians of all parties on Canterbury City Council are hoping to persuade the Home Office to allow Mrs Dura and her daughters the right to stay.

Lib Dem Brian Staley is a central figure in the campaign.

He said: “Unfortunately, Krishna Dura’s family do not have an automatic right to stay, but we are hoping that will change.

“The whole council feels it is morally right to press for them to be allowed to stay so that they can continue living in Canterbury and so that the girls can go to school here.”

After his death, C/Sgt Dura’s body was flown back to the UK and then taken back to Nepal from RAF Lyneham.

His wife and daughters are there this week attending his funeral.

Adding his support to the campaign, Canterbury MP Julian Brazier said: “Krishna Dura has made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of his country.

“His wife has long been settled here and both his children were born here. This is therefore their home and I urge the Government to treat their case with the compassion and humanity that it deserves. I have written to the Home Office Minister myself, urging that they should be allowed to stay.”