A former regional daily crime reporter who worked for two national newspaper during his career has died at the age of 69.

David Stoakes, left, began his career as a tea boy for a newspaper in Buckinghamshire then later worked for the Ammanford Guardian and Birmingham Post, before spending two decades working for The Sun and then The Daily Express in Manchester.

David then joined the South Wales Evening Post and was its crime reporter for more than a decade.

His wife Helen has paid tribute to him in a story by the Evening Post, following his death earlier this month.

She said: “He fulfilled his dream of becoming a reporter – he worked his way up from being a tea boy to being a top reporter on the national papers.

“He loved his job and he loved the travel, and would set off for assignments at the drop of hat.

“He was hard working and was a man of integrity, and was somebody you could always rely on.”

After leaving school, David started working for a paper in Buckinghamshire at the age of 16, before joining the Ammanford Guardian three years later and meeting his future wife while covering a job at the town’s Drill Hall.

He then worked for the Birmingham Post, before moving to work for the nationals and covering some of the biggest stories of the time, including the Brady and Hindley murders, the Yorkshire Ripper, and the troubles in Northern Ireland for The Sun and The Daily Express.

In 1987, he moved to South Wales and later began working for the Evening Post as crime reporter.

David, who was a dad-of-four, was a life-long Notts County football fan and in latter years had played a leading role in an online fan forum.