 A MERSEYSIDE Army officer killed in Iraq died unaware he was to be the father of a little girl. Major Matthew Titchener, 32, from Southport was desperate for a baby girl after learning his wife Raqual had fallen pregnant. He was among three military policemen shot dead when their unmarked 4x4 jeep was riddled with bullets in Basra nine days ago. The men will receive full military honours when their bodies are flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire this afternoon. Ra, 28, told how in his last phone call home five days before he died, Matthew begged her to find out the sex of their baby- due on Boxing Day. She said: "He was desperate for a daughter - or his "wee girl" as he called her. "When I fell pregnant this time he was adamant it was a girl even though I thought it was a boy. "He would pat my stomach and say 'How's my wee girl'." She was to have a scan two days after he called. But Rachel -expecting him home for the birth - never asked whether it was a girl. Two days after her husband's death she had another check and was told it was "94pc sure" she was carrying a girl. She said: "For me it was almost like him knowing. I know Matt would have been over the moon." Last night, Major Titchener's sister, Rebecca, spoke of the family's continued grief. Speaking from her parents' home in Freckleton Road, Churchtown, Rebecca said: "It has been a very long week and we will be glad to be able to lay Matthew to rest. "We are all devastated. You never think it is going to happen to your family, but we have to cope. It is going to be a very difficult day." She said: "All we care about is that proper tributes are paid to Matthew and to the two men who were killed with him. "We don't care about the politics of it. | 
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