Watergate figure Charles Colson dies

Charles Colson, a Richard Nixon White House operative who went to jail over the Watergate scandal and later founded a prison ministry, has died aged 80, the ministry said.

Colson, who compiled Nixon's infamous "enemies list" before Watergate brought down the president in 1974, died of complications from a brain haemorrhage after being admitted to a hospital in Fairfax, Virginia, on March 31, Prison Fellowship Ministries said in a statement on its website.

"It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Chuck Colson - our friend, founder, and brother in Christ - has passed away, the ministry's CEO, Jim Liske, said in the statement.