[4] She served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an air transport liaison officer with the Royal Logistic Corps before being transferred to 321 Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Squadron, 11 Explosive Ordnance Department, Royal Logistic Corps, with whom she served in Northern Ireland.

She was a bomb disposal specialist and had achieved the "High Threat IED Operators" status indicating great expertise.

[3][5] She was mortally injured in Nahr-e-Saraj in Helmand Province on 18 April 2011, 22 days after arriving in Afghanistan for the second time, while attempting to disable a cluster of improvised explosive devices, which defence sources said had been placed to catch out a bomb disposal expert.

She was evacuated by helicopter to Camp Bastion, northwest of Lashkar Gah, from where she was flown back to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham.

[7] More than 1,000 people attended the funeral, including family, friends, military personnel and residents of Huddersfield.