Mourners answer call on Facebook to attend funeral of former Royal Marine

More than 200 strangers have attended the funeral of a 70-year-old former Royal Marine after a vicar put out a plea on Facebook amid fears that he would be buried without mourners.

James McConnell died last month and staff at his care home in Southsea, Hampshire, thought they would be the only people at his funeral because he did not have any close family.

But after the Rev Bob Mason posted a message online and contacted the Royal Marines Association, hundreds of people braved the freezing temperatures to attend the ceremony at Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth.