A chance meeting has given a war widow the chance to say goodbye to the husband she last saw nearly 60 years ago.

Lance Corporal Sidney Shepherd died in 1940 at the age of 23 when German bombers sank the British destroyer Afridi off the Norwegian coast.

Since then his widow, Ellen, 82, of Thorpe Willoughby, near Selby, has been unable to find out anything more. Her husband - whose son was just three months old when he went to war - had become another "unknown soldier."

That was until a few months ago when Mrs Shepherd started talking to an old soldier while on holiday in Scotland.

Former staff sergeant Arthur Sarson, 80, from Sheffield, said he would make some inquiries with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association).

It then came to light there was a memorial stone in a military cemetery, in Surrey, inscribed with hundreds of soldiers' names, including that of Mr Shepherd.

It is among war graves at Brookwood, about 30 miles from London, and records that Lance Corporal Shepherd, of the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, is "remembered with honour".

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission agreed to send a copy of the memorial plaque to Mrs Shepherd, who has now had the precious certificate framed.

She now plans to visit the Surrey war graves this summer so she can finally say goodbye to the husband she lost 59 years ago.

Speaking at her home in Holly Grove, Thorpe Willoughby, Mrs Shepherd said: "I can't believe it after all this time - it's stranger than fiction.

"Sidney went to a watery grave and it wasn't clear in whose waters he died. But now I've got this lovely certificate, it's given me something to remember him by.

"I visit the cenotaph in Selby every year on Armistice Day, but it isn't personal to me - I can only grieve for the men whose names are on it.

"Now I can't wait to visit the war graves, which will finally give me the chance to say goodbye.

"We were inseparable, and were best friends as well as husband and wife, and I still miss him.

"I can remember him in my mind, but people will know now what he has done and that he was very brave."

Mr Sarson said: "We were sitting at the same dining table in Scotland when Mrs Shepherd said she would love to visit her husband's grave if she could find some kind of memorial.

"My ears pricked up and I promised to make some inquiries.

"I was only too happy to help an ex-serviceman's widow, and I'm thrilled it has made her so happy."

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