Killing of the Quiet Hero PARENTS VOW TO KEEP ON FIGHTING

The pair share their pride in a son who had an amazing future ahead of him

- Donna Fleming

When Dame Sue and Phil Bagshaw farewelled their son Andrew as he left Christchurch last year to become an aid worker in war-torn Ukraine, they both had the same horrible feeling that he would not be coming home.

"Of course, we hoped he'd be okay, but we both knew we would never see him again," says Sue, her voice trailing off with emotion. "He was going to a war zone, the risks of dying were very high. We both just had a feeling."

Sadly, that gut instinct turned out to be correct. Andrew, 47, was killed in Ukraine in January. Fellow aid workers have estimated that in his nine months there, he'd saved around 500 civilians by driving them out of danger zones.

Phil thinks research scientist Andrew also had a feeling his mission would cost him his life.

"I believe Andrew knew exactly what was going to happen. I think he wrote the story of his life and this was the final chapter. I think he knew going to Ukraine was something he was meant to do and how it would end."

Now the actual story of Dr Andrew Bagshaw's life has been turned into a book, The Quiet Hero. Written by award-winning journalist Philip Matthews, it provides an insight into a humble man with a strong social conscience who could not stand by while people were suffering in a war he felt was immoral.