A CLACTON sailor has arrived home in time for Christmas after a gruelling six-month tour aboard a Royal Navy warship.

Cheering families lined the waterfront at Portsmouth as HMS Defender, one of the Royal Navy’s top ships, returned home.

The destroyer had been on a six-month deployment to the northern Gulf, using its airdefence capabilities to support USled carrier strike operations in the fight against Isis.

Able Seaman Josh Tetaur, 28, of Clacton, was among the crew.

The electronic warfare specialist was met on dry land by three-year-old niece Freya and the rest of his family.

He said: “It’s good to be here because I missed last Christmas. It’s good to be back, it’s been a long six months.

“I’m just looking forward to being with the family.”

Although the Gulf mission was the ship’s maiden deployment, the destroyer and its crew – including Clacton’s Josh – missed out on Christmas at home last year after taking on a last-minute role escorting a Russian warship by the Scottish coast.

Read the full story in the Clacton Gazette, out now.