'Longest serving' British prisoner of war dies, aged 98

The man thought to be the oldest surviving and longest-serving British prisoner of war has died aged 98.

Alfie Fripp died in hospital in Bournemouth earlier today surrounded by his family.

Mr Fripp spent almost all of the Second World War in captivity after his plane was shot down by the Luftwaffe in 1939.

He was held at 12 different PoW camps, including Stalag Luft III, the scene of prisoner escapes that were dramatised in the film The Great Escape.

Mr Fripp, who lived in the Southbourne area of Bournemouth, joined the RAF in 1930 and married his sweetheart, Vera Allen, in September 1939, just three days after war was declared by Britain on Germany.