Lance Corporal Wayne John Edwards (1966 – 13 January 1993) was a British soldier who served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

[2][3] At the time of his death he was attached to the Cheshire Regiment as part of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during Operation Grapple 1.

[4] The following day Malcolm Rifkind, the defence secretary, announced that a Royal Navy task force would be sent to the Adriatic and that any future attacks on British troops could lead to the immediate deployment of artillery and strike aircraft to counter them.

[7] After serving two tours of duty with the Army in Northern Ireland, where he had seen one friend killed and another wounded, Edwards deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in November 1992, based in Vitez as the driver of a FV510 Warrior infantry fighting vehicle.

[11] Warrior patrols to Turbe, near Travnik, were repeatedly shelled, suffering light damage, and a three-mile stretch north of Kladanj on the road to Tuzla was nicknamed "Bomb Alley" because of the regular attacks on UN convoys.

The fighting was blamed on a number of factors, including the "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims from the nearby village of Prozor by HVO forces, troops from outside the area "stirring up trouble", and dissatisfaction among the 56% Muslim majority in the town with the Geneva peace plan, tentatively agreed a week earlier, which would leave Gornji Vakuf in a Croat-controlled canton.

[7][9] During the negotiations, the British received a request to escort an ambulance carrying three injured civilian women through the town and on to the nearest medical facility.

Approximately twelve minutes after leaving the base, as Edwards drove across a bridge, he was struck by a single shot in the head and his Warrior went out of control and mounted the pavement.

[12] Prime Minister John Major told the House of Commons: "This soldier has lost his life in working to save the lives of many others.

The task force carried eight Harrier jump jets, 17 Sea King helicopters, a battery of six 105 mm light guns, and a total of approximately 2,340 military personnel, mostly Royal Navy.

"[15] On 16 January 1993 Stewart managed to broker a temporary ceasefire in Gornji Vakuf so that a wreath could be laid at the spot where Edwards was killed.

In November 2010, Edwards' sister was presented with the Elizabeth Cross, awarded to the next of kin of members of the Armed Forces killed in action after the Second World War.

Lt. Col. Stewart said in a statement read to the hearing that he believed the murderer would never be caught, and that "Since the incident I have been to a number of meetings of the local commanders of the Muslim and Croatian armies to try and negotiate peace in Gornji Vakuf.

John Hughes, the South Clwyd coroner said: "This is a terribly tragic case of a young man of 26 who went to serve Queen and country in a peacekeeping capacity, not to fight.