Tributes have been paid to a pub landlord who died in a fiery standoff with police as his pub exploded in flames behind him.

Herve Louis Appert, who served pints at the 500-year-old Chequers Inn, died from ‘self-inflicted’ wounds after explosions and fire destroyed his boozer nestled in the Bedfordshire village of Wootton.

Police responded to calls for a welfare check on a man at the Chequers Inn in Wootton at 10.15am on Friday (September 19).

Locals had reported an explosion ‘shaking the tiles off the roof’ as huge flames took hold and Herve failing to come out.

Police soon discovered that the pub landlord was armed with a crossbow.

Specialist officers, including negotiators, were sent to defuse the situation but when he finally left the pub at 12.45pm he had already sustained self-i

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