The body of the second Newcastle United fan killed in the MH17 plane crash has been identified, the Foreign Office has said.

John Alder, 63, was on his way to New Zealand with his friend Liam Sweeney, 28, to watch the Magpies play in their pre-season tour when the Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over the Ukraine five weeks ago, claiming the lives of all 298 people on board.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Service spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the positive identification of another British victim of flight MH17, John Alder. The family have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time."

Newcastle recently opened the Alder Sweeney Memorial Garden outside St James' Park in memory of the pair.