Fleet Street veteran Roy East, who ran a freelance news agency in Cornwall for many years, has died suddenly at his home in Bodmin.

Roy, (82), worked for the Sunday People before setting up the Cornwall News Service and he was widely known throughout the county.

He contributed to many local newspapers, including the Falmouth Packet Series and the Plymouth-based Sunday Independent. He also did broadcast work for BBC South West but most of his work was for national newspapers, especially the Sunday titles, and he was well-known and highly respected by Fleet Street newsdesks.

In 1976, he was involved with the launch of a local weekly newspaper, the Cornwall Courier, together with the late Mike Robertson (founder of the Westcountry out-of-town retail group Trago Mills), former Cornish MP Paul Tyler (now Lord Tyler of Linkinghorne) and Terry Lambert (now group editor of Newsquest Cornwall). The paper was later acquired by the Daily Express group and merged with other titles.

Although officially retired, Roy continued to do occasional work for national newspapers and was still contacted on a regular basis by London newsdesks seeking help with Westcountry stories.