DIVORCE AT 98

A BRITISH man and his wife have become the oldest couple in the world to divorce - AGED 98!

Bertie and Jessie Wood got a decree absolute to end their 36-year marriage when they were both two years off turning 100.

But months later Bertie died shortly before his 99th birthday. And according to neighbours, Jessie - three when World War I broke out - is now in a care home.

Both of them had been married before when they wed in Elstree, Herts, in 1972 and moved to Falmouth, Cornwall, four years later.

But by 2008 it was all over and Jessie set the wheels in motion for their split.

Both were 97 at the time and it is unclear why their marriage failed although a decree absolute is believed to have been granted subsequently.

Last night Jessie's daughter Pauline Rowe, 65, refused to discuss the split. She said: "It's too hurtful to talk about."

Terence Wood, Bertie's son from his first marriage, also wouldn't comment.

Divorce expert Francine Kaye said: "At that age you'd think you'd find some way of getting on with each other."

Britain has the fourth highest divorce rate in the world with 3.08 splits per 1,000 people.

The world's oldest recorded divorcees used to be Simon and Ida Stern of Wisconsin, America, who parted in 1984, aged 97 and 91.

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