Elizabeth takes the Best in Show crown at Crufts

Fittingly in a Diamond Jubilee year, a Lhasa Apso named Elizabeth was crowned Best in Show title at Crufts.

The seven-year-old beat more than 21,000 dogs over the four day competition to take home the top title last night.

The bitch, owned by Margaret Anderson from Coventry, was one of seven dogs competing for Best in Show at Birmingham's NEC.

Each had won Best of Breed and then Best in Group accolades in previous judging rounds and was marked for overall health and condition, coat, character, temperament, movement – and how close they have come to the Kennel Club Breed Standard.

The reserve Best in Show title went to Brutus, a three-year-old Newfoundland from Slovakia, and his owner Sonia Krockovci.

Buster, a spaniel who braved bombs and bullets on five tours of duty, signed off from active service happy after winning the Friends for Life first prize.

During tours of Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan he was said to have saved countless lives by sniffing out explosive vests, leading to the arrests of two suicide bombers.

He also joined comrades on foot patrols through the poppy fields in Afghanistan, hunting Taliban insurgents and tracking down booby trap bombs left behind for British and American troops.

He will now retire at home with RAF Police Sergeant Michael Barrow.