A letter written by a British officer from the Western Front on Christmas Day 1914 has been discovered 93 years on.

In it 24-year-old second lieutenant Trevor Bird tells his father William how he was arrested as a suspected German spy by his own side.

Unusually it was not censored, and at one point Lt Bird describes an order by a superior officer to make a bayonet attack as "criminal".

The letter was discovered in a family trunk by Mr Bird's grandson.

Lt Bird describes being up to his waist in freezing water and the "ping" of bullets every time he "showed" himself from the trenches.

The letter was discovered a few weeks ago by his grandson, 49-year-old Stephen Birley, who lives near Exeter and who is a former Guardsman.