Downing Street has defended the way the prime minister writes to bereaved families after a dead soldier’s mother said Gordon Brown misspelled his name.
Guardsman Jamie Janes, 20, from Brighton, East Sussex, was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan in October.
The Sun newspaper said his mother Jacqui had described Gordon Brown’s letter as a "hastily scrawled insult".
In a statement, Downing Street said that the prime minister "would never knowingly misspell anyone’s name".
‘Half-finished’
Guardsman Janes, of 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Helmand province.
According to the Sun, his mother Jacqui was angry when she received the prime minister’s letter of condolence in which he appeared to misspell Guardsman Janes’s name.
The paper has reproduced the handwritten letter.
"The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died to protect the people of Britain"
Downing Street statement
Funeral for blast death soldierMrs Janes told the Sun that the letter was "scrawled so quickly I could hardly even read it" and that "some of the words were half-finished".
She described the letter as "disrespectful" and an "insult" to her son.
In a statement, Downing Street said the prime minister took a great deal of time writing to bereaved relatives.
It added: "The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died to protect the people of Britain."
Mr Brown has previously admitted problems with his eyesight after a childhood rugby injury.
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