TRIBUTE has been paid to a Thurrock-based journalist whose death has been announced.

Michael 'Mick' Pulfrey, worked for the Thurrock Gazette for many years before his retirement around 2003 but remained a popular and knowledgeable figure in the local community.

Veteran Thurrock councillor John Kent, whose first steps as a councillor were reported by Mr Pulfrey in April 1993, paid tribute to him, saying: "I am really sad to hear of the passing of Mick.

"He was a fantastic local journalist of the old school. He was chief reporter for the Thurrock Gazette when it was a great parish pump.

"Mick was a fixture on the press bench at the council and was always a scrupulously fair journalist who reported the truth without fear or favour.

"Local journalism isn't what it was with the huge reduction in local newspapers, and I fear there are few left like Mick - he was a kind and decent man.

"Our thoughts are with Maureen and Alex."

Thurrock Nub news editor Neil Speight, who edited the Gazette from 2004 to 2009 said: "Mick had retired when I took over from another 'proper' journo, the late Andy Lever in 2004, and our paths rarely crossed and I never really got to know him which was a great shame. He wasn't the sort of bloke to go around telling others how to do their job, he served his time and left a legacy for others of us to follow.

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"But I know Andy and other colleagues like Dave Henderson at the Gazette, and advertising colleagues like Debbie Walker, held him in the highest regard and I can truthfully say that in my 22 years working as journalist in the borough I have never heard a bad word said about him.

"But from everything I have heard I can only echo John Kent's words - he was old school and regarded it as a privilege to be a journalist and hold people to account. Like John, my sympathies go to his family and close friends."