A regional daily night news editor who was a “unique talent” and also ran his own agency has died aged 72.

Tributes have been paid to David Charters, who worked for both the Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post during his career.

David, pictured, died suddenly at his home in Birkenhead yesterday.

Echo editor-in-Chief Alastair Machray has hailed him as a “unique talent and personality”, while former Echo print editor Sue Lee described him as “the best of men” in an obituary run by the newspaper

David began his career aged 17 as a cub reporter on hometown paper the Birkenhead News, moving to Guildford-based press agency Cassidy and Leigh by the age of 19.

He returned home to open the West Cheshire News Service, which he ran for 15 years before closing it to join the Post.

There he served in roles including staff reporter, night news editor, columnist and feature writer.

David also wrote a weekly ‘Bard of Birkenhead’ column for the Liverpool Echo.

Former Post editor Mark Thomas told the Echo he was “a shining star with a unique and colourful writing style, coupled with an understanding for people and a humorous touch”.

Daily Mirror columnist and former Echo colleague Brian Reade said: “Dave was undoubtedly one of the most gifted writers to work at the Liverpool Echo.

“When I first met him more than 30 years ago, on the Daily Post, he seemed a man out of his time. His dress sense, habits, phraseology and outlook were rooted in the past.

“It was his obsession with the black-and-white, post-war Merseyside he was born into, and the way he could turn that world into colour with such wit and originality, that defined his work.

“He wrote beautifully with a superb turn of phrase about the minutiae of everyday life, lamenting a lost era of gentility when real men tipped their jaunty-angled hats to spinsters.”

David was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Liverpool John Moores University in 2015.

He is survived by wife Alison and son Cameron, a journalist who works for the Central News agency at the Old Bailey.

Cameron told the Echo: “My father was a man whose words stretched out to the individual and brought them near; providing an escape from the crazed chaos of modern life.

“His prose surpassed the tawdry and cheap invective of the powerful, and soothed the souls of the humble.

“He held true to his ideals his entire life, and his words, though soft resounded off the ceilings and columns of the mighty.

“What he leaves is love not loss, joy not sorrow, but most of all he leaves words of wisdom to guide our thoughts.”