A Royal Marine commando has hanged himself after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan “filled with rage”.

Dylan Kemp, 28, was discovered dead with a noose around his neck when police broke into a flat in south Croydon on September 21.

He was buried with full military honours and three rounds fired by J Company at a funeral at noon yesterday, attended by family, friends and senior Navy figures.

Police sources said he left a note apologising to his family, which blamed his recently completed seven-month tour of Afghanistan for filling him with anger.

The marine, who lived in Coulsdon with his mother Mary, had been arrested for common assault two days earlier, but the charge was withdrawn following his death.

A total of 67 servicemen committed suicide in the last six years after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, with a further 31 suspected to have taken their own lives.

Another 20,000 ex-servicemen are in jail or on probation.

Marine Kemp had been deployed with a 42 Commando close combat troop in September 2008, and was described by a Royal Navy spokesman as operating beyond the high standards expected of a marine.

He had been working as a London recruiter for the Royal Navy since he came back from the war zone.

Speaking at Marine Kemp’s funeral at the Coulsdon Christian Fellowship Church his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Stickland, said: “42 Commando Royal Marines has lost another Smiley Boy and brother in arms.

“He was bright, sparky and articulate, excelling in the alleyways and bustling streets of Kabul but also in the dense Green Zone of Nad-E Ali in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.

“He was always at the fore of any activity, frustrated when not in the fray and a loyal, respected member of the team.

“His tragic loss sits heavy with the officers and men of 42 Commando Royal Marines.

“We have lost another member of our family and will ensure he is not forgotten.”

Piers Bishop, director of post traumatic stress disorder charity Resolution, said anger built up through intense warfare could recede within weeks given proper treatment.

He said: “We’ve seen a number of people who have come back, both from the second Iraq war and Afghanistan, who are very disturbed indeed.

“It’s probably the intensity, the unrelenting action and the lack of sleep – there are never really moments when people feel secure.

“It’s completely unacceptable that people should be so disturbed by things they have seen that they are prepared to kill themselves, and are not screened for and given appropriate help at the time.”

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