The soldier who guarded Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hess (1894-1987) during the final years of his life has finally been awarded a general service medal.

Mr Romanes guarded Hess at the notorious Spandau prison during his service in Berlin, in then West Germany, in the 1980s.

Veterans Minister Kevan Jones presented the medal to him at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

"I didn't have any feelings for him, I just thought he was a sad old man," Mr Romanes told news site the Scotsman.

Hess on trial at Nuremburg

"You would see him in the gardens walking around, but he was just bent in two. I never spoke to him, you weren't allowed to speak to him."

Hess would become the last remaining prisoner in the otherwise unused Spandau, as the other prisoners were released and authorities debated the expense of running the jail.

The former Nazi was found dead in 1987 after strangling himself with an electrical cord, aged 93.

Spandau was afterwards demolished, to prevent it becoming a neo-Nazi shrine.

John Romanes was in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from 1981-92. His service took him to West Germany, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

He was nominated as the best recruit during his training, and was one of the first volunteer's for the 1991 Gulf war.

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