A US Navy pilot has died in an F-18 jet crash in the Fens in Cambridgeshire, close to an RAF base.

The Hornet crashed on farm land in Redmere, near Ely, close to the Suffolk border, with the alarm raised at 10:30 BST.

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed the pilot, the only crew member, died.

The aircraft had taken off from RAF Lakenheath, but was not connected to the base.

It crashed four miles from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

Amateur aviation enthusiast Roger Smith told BBC Radio Suffolk that the F-18 was one of a group of Hornet Marine Corps planes that were heading back to the US from the Middle East.

They arrived at Lakenheath over the weekend and four of them took off this morning.