A former journalist and training officer with the Express and Star has died from a heart attack aged 64.

Steve Cornell, left, spent three decades with the Wolverhampton-based newspaper after beginning his career with The County Express, in Stourbridge.

He moved to take up the role of chief reporter at the Express and Star's district office in Dudley, later becoming news editor in Wolverhampton and then training officer.

Steve was brought up in Shropshire and Clent, near Stourbridge, where his parents were teachers.

Outside the newsroom, he served as branch secretary for the National Union of Journalists in Dudley and Stourbridge and helped to organise press balls for charity.

He enjoyed bridge, winning a number of trophies in tournaments, and also had a fascination with historic naval battles.

His other hobbies included gardening, reading and writing satirical letters to his friends from Spain.

For the past five years he divided his time between his house in Torrox, near Malaga, and a home in Stourport.

His widow Louise Jew, also a former Express and Star journalist, said: "Humour was one of the driving forces of his life and his friends used to look forward to receiving what he called his rants from the Costas. He was a very intelligent and devastatingly witty man."

Steve is survived by Louise, his sister Katy, brother-in-law Harry and niece and nephew.