A British sniper had not received permission to fire a gunshot believed to have fatally wounded a Maidstone-born soldier, an inquest heard today.

Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, of the 4th Regiment, Royal Military Police, was killed by a shot to the side of the ribcage in Afghanistan.

The 22-year-old had arrived at an observation post in the Sangin area of central Helmand Province between five and six hours before he was killed on December 20, 2009.

He and his colleagues had been deployed to a patrol base on the roof of a building to watch a blind spot in the road, Route 611, to stop insurgents from planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The inquest heard that in the hour before L Cpl Pritchard's death a group of men had been seen digging up the road.

Flares and a warning shot were fired at the men and they had disappeared before returning at about 9pm.

It was then that Corporal Jonathan Dolton, who was not the sniper, requested a shot on an insurgent, the court was told, but he was told to wait by Lieutenant Michael Holden at headquarters.

Warrant Officer Patrick Hyde said the war was at its height in the area at the time and Route 611 had become impassable.

In order to secure the route from Taliban insurgents, the road was cleared of 40 IEDs on December 15 so soldiers could then be placed at observation posts along the way.

The body of L Cpl Michael Pritchard is repatriated

The inquest is looking into whether L Cpl Pritchard died as a result of so-called friendly fire from a British sniper based at a remote observation post.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze was told by Major Richard Streatfield that soldiers were under daily small arms fire and IED threat both before and after L Cpl Pritchard's death, which meant they were not getting a lot of sleep.

He said L Cpl Pritchard's post had been fired on earlier in the day on December 20, but he did not know where the shots had come from.

The inquest heard at about 9.10pm a shot was fired and Mr Streatfield said he heard someone say, "man down" over the radio.

The court was told that permission had to be obtained for a sniper to fire a shot at a target unless there was an immediate threat to him or someone else.

Mr Streatfield said: "From the radio log there was not permission to fire that shot.

"The last thing anyone heard on the radio was headquarters saying not to fire and to wait for the sound commander."

The inquest into the death of L Cpl Pritchard, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, is being held at Eastbourne Town Hall.