A soldier radioed his colleagues "about half a dozen times" to tell them that warning shots were being fired "very close" to the observation post where his colleague was fatally wounded, an inquest heard.

But no one heard Rifleman Jeffrey Stanley's warnings as he was in a dead spot and the transmissions did not reach the operations room, a hearing at Eastbourne Town Hall was told.

Mr Stanley was deployed to the observation post N30 with Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, who was on secondment with 4th Battalion The Rifles, on December 20 2009 to watch a blind spot on an access road, Route 611, in the Sangin area, central Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

They were there to make sure Taliban insurgents did not plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the road, the court was told.

L/Cpl Pritchard, 22, from Eastbourne, was killed by a gunshot wound to the ribcage which is believed to have been fired from a remote observation post, known as a sangar, by a British sniper who thought he was shooting at insurgents who were digging up the road, the inquest at Eastbourne Town Hall heard.

The next clear communication received by the control room was that rounds were coming close to the observation post and then "man down", East Sussex Coroner Alan Craze was told.

Captain Thomas Foulkes-Arnold, who was a lieutenant with 4 Rifles at the time, said he did not hear any of Mr Stanley's transmissions while he was in the operations room.

He said the communications system was down for about 20 minutes if not longer "to the point where we were thinking of sending a patrol out to N30 to re-establish comms".

He told the court that if Mr Stanley did receive a response to his messages "that response was not coming from me".

Mr Stanley said the first two hours of their shift on the roof of the observation post were quiet but at about 8.15pm he heard over the radio that the remote sangar could see people on the road, the court was told.

Mr Stanley said they could see up to 250 metres to the right of their post but they were fairly sure there were no insurgents in the road so he passed this back on the radio.

The court was told the sky started to light up with illume, which Mr Stanley felt left them exposed, and he heard over the radio that permission had been given to fire warning shots.

He said: "There were small bursts of automatic fire, possibly three rounds. They felt really close and I could feel them going over our heads.

"Me and L/Cpl Pritchard took cover. I felt these were not warning shots and communicated this over the radio."

Mr Stanley was told they were warning shots and that they had not been fired anywhere near them, the inquest heard.

He said more illume was sent into the air and he heard a single shot which sounded like a sniper rifle. He said this happened about five times.

L/Cpl Pritchard and Rifleman Wayne Sargeant, who was also on the roof, asked to return fire but were told not to by Mr Stanley who said they were warning shots, the inquest heard.

Mr Stanley said another three single shots were fired which left his ears ringing and he used the radio again to ask if they were warning shots.

Sgt Syldred Decker appeared and Mr Stanley explained what had been happening.

He said: "All three of us were shoulder to shoulder, crouched down on our knees, keeping low."

He said another shot was fired and he heard the round hit L/Cpl Pritchard who said he had been hit before becoming unresponsive.

Mr Stanley said the radio went down just before the three final rounds were fired and he only got it working just before L/Cpl Pritchard was shot.

He said that every time he radioed through to say shots were being fired at their location he was told the shots were not being fired at them.