A PRESTON man who briefed Diana, Princess of Wales, on landmines was flown back to Britain to drill engineers from all over the country about the deadly explosives.

And he has pledged to try to continue his role in a bid to further her pioneering work.

Major David Waters, from Ashton, was in the former Yugoslavia for seven months as head of a British-led multi-national force tasked in teaching some 6,000 children how to avoid the lethal devices buried in their fields.

He explained to Diana about the various mines and told her of the tragic deaths and injuries caused to innocent civilians, including many of the youngsters he had met.

This week he spoke exclusively to the Citizen about how Diana touched their lives: "She was unbelievable," he said: "Despite a group of paparazzi about 80-strong, she was able to detach herself from them and get close to the people, not just physically. You could see she was really communicating with them on their level.

"I felt sorry for her in Sarajevo because the press didn't seem interested in landmines but just in her private life."

Major Waters was flown back to Britain to lecture Royal Engineers at a Battlefield Engineering Wing Convention in Farnborough about his other work in former Yugoslavia - supervising the clearance of mines from an area the size of Wales.

As head of the de-mining project, he was in charge of 12 men and their support teams, each of which had to monitor a unit from a former warring faction as they cleared the mines they had previously laid.

He said: "It has never been done before but it's part of the Dayton Agreement. Some wanted to and some didn't."

It was Major Waters' responsibility to ensure they did it effectively.

Having completed his tour of duty, the Territorial Army engineer is reeling from culture shock at simple things like being able to walk on grass.

He is preparing to go back to his civilian job as a production manager at British Aerospace, Samlesbury, but is still on demand as one of the world's leading authorities on landmines.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.