The Roman Catholic Church has announced the death of the Rt Rev Kevin Dunn at the age of 57. 

The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, who spent much of his life serving in the West Midlands, died at the weekend, in the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he had been treated for a number of weeks.

Bishop Dunn was ordained as the 12th Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in 2004. He was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, in 1950 and studied for the priesthood at Oscott College, Birmingham, where he later taught.

He was ordained to the priesthood at Our Lady and St Werbergh's Church in Clayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1976. He later served in Walsall, in the West Midlands, was chaplain to Stuart Bathurst High School, became chaplain to the Caribbean community in the Archdiocese of Birmingham and was later a parish priest in Stoke-on-Trent as well as to the Royal Infirmary in Stoke, and chaplain to Staffordshire University.

After further study in Rome, he returned to England in 1991 and worked as a parish priest in Stafford and also lectured at Oscott College.
In 2001 he was also appointed full-time Episcopal Vicar for the areas of Wolverhampton, Walsall, the Black Country and Worcestershire.

In 2002 he became a Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of St Chad and a member of the Episcopal Council, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, said: "I am deeply sorry to hear of the death of Bishop Kevin Dunn.
"His last months were marked by suffering. As a priest he made an exceptional contribution to the life of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, serving both as an Episcopal Vicar for Religious and also as Episcopal Vicar for Kidderminster, Walsall, Wolverhampton and the Black Country.

"His brief period as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle promised so much for the future.

"The priests, religious and people of this diocese, saddened at his death, will keep him and his family very much in their thoughts and in their prayers at this time."

In a statement, the Catholic Church said: "The death of Bishop Kevin will be greatly felt throughout the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and people in the parishes will be at prayer for their late Bishop.

"The Diocese extends its sympathy to Bishop Kevin's mum, Cath, his sisters, Elizabeth, Mary and Julia, and his brothers, Stephen and Peter, and to his nieces and nephews, who will all miss him greatly.

"The diocese also extends its prayers and sympathy to Pamela Hyland, Bishop Kevin's housekeeper for the last three and half years in this diocese, as well as many years previously in his home diocese."