TRIBUTES have been paid to a young man and eco-campaigner, who was held in jail for his part in a tunnels protest in Thurrock last year, after his body was found in a London park.

Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer, 22, had been missing for a week before his body was discovered in Richmond Park,

He was a very active protester with Insulate Britain and the JustStopOil group and had been arrested 16 times in relation to protest actions, with five hearings on different charges coming up this year.

He was due to stand trial at Inner London Crown Court next month accused of causing a public nuisance.

Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer, right, with Joe Howlett and Sam Johnson, during their Thurrock tunnels protest.

He was also among a group of three protesters, along with Joe Howlett and Sam Johnson, who were arrested in West Thurrock last September after digging a tunnel under a busy road in a bid to stop traffic going to and from the Navigator fuel terminal.

Metropolitan Police said it had received a report on February 16 that Mr Gonzalez-Trimmer had gone missing, and that officers had made inquiries to try to locate him.

The force said: "On 20 February, the body of a man was found in Richmond Park – the death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner."

A statement from JustStopOil issued on Thursday, 23 February, said: "We are mourning the death of an extraordinary young man who was part of our Community of Resistance.

"He was loved for his bright spirit, his strength, his humour and wit. Those who had the joy of knowing Xavi and sharing his life will be devastated and our heart goes out to them. We are all deeply shocked.

"Xavi took action with a sense of service and love. He demanded a future worth living and for that the state sent him, with many others, to jail. We have a duty to listen to them, to respect the lives they deserve to live and the lives of those as yet unborn.

"If that future, that joyous, liveable future is taken away, if governments and politicians refuse to listen, if the judiciary continues to imprison and penalise good, courageous people, then the mental burden visited on our young people will only increase.

"What will it take for this government to act, to start protecting and stop damaging us, to recognise the courage and bravery displayed by young people like Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer?"