Bishop dies of pneumonia, aged 57

Bishop Dunn was ordained in 2004

The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the Right Reverend Kevin Dunn, has died of pneumonia, aged 57.

Bishop Dunn died in his sleep at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital on Saturday night. He had been admitted to the intensive care unit on 8 February.

His mother Cath, 88, and other members of his family were at his bedside.

He was ordained as the twelfth Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle by his predecessor Ambrose Griffiths at St Mary's Cathedral in Newcastle in 2004.

The Vicar General, Canon Seamus Cunningham, said prayers with the bishop's family at the hospital.

He said: "We are very grateful to the doctors and nurses at the Freeman Hospital for the loving care and concern given to the bishop and his family throughout his illness."

The diocese of Hexham and Newcastle stretches from Berwick, in Northumberland, to Stockton, on Teesside, and from the western borders of County Durham to the North Sea coast.

Bishop Dunn was ordained to the priesthood at Our Lady and St Werbergh's Church in Clayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire in 1976.

He served as a parish priest in Stoke-on-Trent and in 2001 was appointed full-time Episcopal Vicar for the areas of Wolverhampton, Walsall, the Black Country and Worcestershire.