MEMORIES of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have inspired a Bewdley writer's prize-winning short story.

Robert Ireland, of Northwood Lane, will be jetting off to Tuscany to enjoy a writing holiday after he finished first in a national competition.

Mr Ireland, who writes under the name of Robert Ronsson, was living in New York with his wife, Valerie and daughter, Charlotte, at the time of the atrocities and 20 minutes before the first aeroplane struck the twin towers he had flown over the city on his way to Memphis.

His winning work, titled Like Heaven: Escape from Ground Zero, was based on an internet rumour that a person had escaped from the World Trade Centre on 9/11 by surfing down the rooftop.

In his story, the man, an illegal immigrant working in the centre's kitchens, is mistaken for one of the doctors helping the injured and hailed a hero.

The 56-year-old, who has been writing full-time for two years, said: "The feeling of the book is the respect this man gets and being regarded as a hero."

Mr Ireland had previously finished second in a national contest and had been highly commended twice.

He will be flying out to Italy tomorrow where he will attend workshops run by authors Sally Sontheimer and Niala Maharaj.

The former marketing officer said he was looking forward to the trip, adding:

"I was amazed and delighted when I found out I had won."

Mr Ireland is now working on his next project, which is a fictional account of how his father's birth in a Glasgow tenement slum in 1920 changed the course of British political history.

For further information about his work, log onto www.robertronsson.co.uk