THE Farnham mother of ITN correspondent James Mates, who is reporting the war in Iraq, has praised her son's bravery and expressed hope for his safe and swift return with the British forces.

Mary Nevile, of College Gardens, said her son had been able to contact his wife back in London, and spoke of "being exhausted" covering the allied push towards Baghdad.

His latest reports have been from the frontline at Nasiriya which has seen the "strongest resistance yet" by irregular Iraqi units who have inflicted casualties on coalition troops.

He has previously covered two major war zones, Kosovo, and Rwanda in 1994 where he was the only television journalist on the scene during a fierce rebel coup.

Before joining ITN, James, who is the son of Hampshire MP Michael Mates, grew up at the family home in Bentley and attended Farnham Sixth Form College.

Concerned for his safety, Mrs Nevile said: "He is caught up in the battles at Nasiriya and said that he is very tired and suffering from an awful lack of sleep. It has been pretty uncomfortable for him but he is out there doing a job and getting on with it, I just hope it goes well. He is being very brave and I am proud of him."

She added that he was incredibly calm under fire and was "full of common sense" and believed he was excellent at finding the latest and most interesting stories.

Asked if she had ever attempted to persuade him against reporting on such unstable situations, she replied that she had "never tried to influence him as he is too strong willed".

"This is not the first time he has done this and I wouldn't wish for him to go out there but with 5,000 journalists there with families back home it's just as bad for them."

On the death of his colleague, Terry Lloyd, who was killed in a friendly fire incident near Basra while filming the coalition advance, she said: "ITN are a very close team and James knew him very well. It's desperately sad, but was an accident of war."

She believed that James would remain in Iraq until the conclusion of the war, which could take many weeks to resolve if hardline Iraqi troops continue to offer resistance.

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l War veteran Desmond Hamill - page 8