Hundreds mourn embassy siege legend

Former comrades of an SAS soldier who helped end the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege joined his family yesterday to say farewell to “an icon and a legend”.

Hundreds packed Hereford Cathedral for the funeral of John McAleese, from Stirlingshire, who died in Greece last month, aged 62. His coffin, covered in a Union flag and topped by a wreath bearing the SAS’s Who Dares Wins motto, was carried into the cathedral for the 45-minute service by six of his former comrades. The service was brought to a close with the SAS regimental prayer, featuring the words: “Dare all to win all.”

Mr McAleese’s death from a suspected heart attack came two years after his 29-year-old son, Serjeant Paul McAleese, was killed in Afghanistan.