Japanese prisoner of war camp survivor Harold Smalley dies at 101

One of the last UK survivors of the Japanese prisoner of war camps in World War Two has died at the age of 101.

Harold Smalley, from Whitwick in Leicestershire, was a lance corporal in the 1st Leicestershire Regiment.

He was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and spent several years working in Japanese camps building the Burma-Thailand railway.

The funeral of Mr Smalley, who worked as a cobbler until well into his 70s, is due to be on Monday in Coalville.

"I was called up when I was 25 for the 1st Leicestershire Regiment - I didn't really want to go but it was the call of duty and I had to go," he said in an interview with the BBC at age of 100.

He was sent to Singapore and eventually was captured by the Japanese and taken to the prison of war camp at Changi.

He said he was treated "terribly" in the Japanese camps and only had rags to wear and was "bashed up" if he did anything wrong.

Mr Smalley said he "danced with joy" when he was finally released in 1945.

His grandson Stuart Maguire said: "He was a remarkable person - what a man he was.

"He never said a cross word or raised his voice to anyone… but he did live his life to the full."