FAMILY and friends gathered yesterday to pay their last respects to a highly decorated ex-soldier who shot himself in a Southampton park.

William Foxton, who lost his arm in combat, used a semiautomatic pistol to fire a single shot to his head as he sat on a park bench in Rockstone Place after losing his life savings.

The 65-year-old is said to have lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in the Bernie Madoff financial swindle, which swallowed up billions of dollars of investors’ cash.

Mr Foxton, who lived in Southampton with his wife Roberta, shot himself on February 10. His funeral service took place at Highfield Church, Highfield Lane, Southampton. Veterans who served with Mr Foxton formed the pall-bearer party.