A convicted sex offender and former RAF officer who was imprisoned in Winchester Prison died in the city’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital an inquest has heard.

Richard Adrian West aged 74, died just six months after being jailed for historic sex offences.

Richard West, born on July 7 1942, and previously of Armstrong Rise, Charlton, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in June 2016 after being found guilty of six counts of historic indecent assault.

West originally faced 11 charges of historic sexual offences during the 1970s concerning two young girls.

Following a trial in November 2015 at Salisbury Crown Court, a majority guilty verdict was passed in relation to the charges concerning one victim but the jury failed to return a verdict relating to the second victim.

The pathologist Dr Basil Purdue said that the cause of death was heart failure due to severe heart disease combined with diabetes.

The court heard that Mr West who had been largely bed bound since June 2016, was frail at the time of his death but could stand with the aid of a Zimmer frame.

The senior coroner Mr Grahame Short said that Richard West, who resided in Winchester Prison died on February 10 2016 due to natural causes.