A Worcester caf owner, who hit the headlines in the 1960s when he was jailed by the East Germans for trying to smuggle a woman into West Berlin, has died.

Bernard "Bernie" Collett had run St John's Snack Bar in the Bull Ring, St John's, for more than 35 years, after taking over the business from his mother in 1968, and was one of the best known faces in the "village in the city".

However, it was back in 1961 that he hit national fame.

Mr Collett, then a pig farmer at Hadzor, became known as "the Droitwich Pimpernel" because of his unsuccessful bid to sneak the wife of an East German refugee through the Berlin Wall.

The woman's husband, who had managed to flee East Berlin before the wall went up, asked the Englishman to help, but he was arrested as his Morris 1000 van approached Checkpoint Charlie with the woman curled up in the back.

After being kept in solitary confinement for 41 days, he appeared in court and received a two-year jail sentence. However, he was freed after four months following the efforts of Worcester's MP Peter Walker.

The Collett family ran the cafe business for many years. Originally it was near the Bush public house, but moved further up the Bull Ring when the tower flats were built.

However, its new home near the chip shop proved only temporary, as it had to move over the road when the Co-op supermarket took over the site.

In 1998, Mr Collett celebrated 30 years as the caf's patron and many of his original customers dropped in for a cup of tea and a bacon butty.

He lived in Timberdine Avenue, Worcester, and died in hospital aged 71.

"Bernie was loved and respected by a great many people and we will all miss him," said his sister Mrs Trish Leake. "One of his customers once said he was 'a gentleman and a gentle man' and that summed him up exactly."

A requiem mass will be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace RC Church, Bransford Road, St John's, on Friday, October 3, at noon followed by cremation. Family flowers only, but donations to Cancer Research UK.