A WEM man who died in a road accident will be remembered as a fun-loving son, uncle and brother who had a heart of gold, his family have said.

Craig Lear-Jones, 28, died on Saturday, March 12, in Wem town centre after his motorbike collided with a wall in High Street, close to his family home in Lowe Hill Road.

It is the second road tragedy to have befallen the family in recent years, after Mr Lear-Jones' sister Tara was also killed in a crash in 2017.

His mum, Andrea Lear-Jones, said her son will be much missed by all that knew him, including his dad Matthew, siblings Gemma, Harriet, Jack, Owen and Amber. She said the family was now considering him to have been reunited with his sister Tara.

"Everyone will miss him – all his family and friends," said Andrea, who added Craig was uncle to Imogen, Willow, Alfie and Lola.

"We have a really big family and he had lots of friends, and we've had people writing to us from all over, people I don't know.

"We've heard from people that he played against and talked to on his Xbox in America and that makes us very proud because it means he was well known.

"So many people have left tributes up the road and I don't know who they but there's so many.

"It makes us feel proud that people have been looking out for us and they have been very generous with their support as we no strangers to tragedy.

"There's a lot of flowers down the road and when Tara died there was lots of flowers here too.

"We just want him to be remembered as an outgoing, fun-loving, loved son, brother and uncle and will also be your friend with his heart of gold.

"We hope he is at peace with Tara."

Andrea and her family said Craig would do anything for anyone, especially his nieces and nephews, but still had a stubborn streak when it came to getting what he wanted.

Andrea added: "That was the kind of person he was.

"He had just started motocross and had just bought himself a bike.

"He was trying to get out and live his life, and do that little bit more for himself.

"Craig would do anything for me but if he didn't like something, he'd soon let me know about it.

"That was sometimes a pain in the bum and he would mither me.

"I did say on Saturday morning after he asked me to make him poached eggs on toast, which was his favourite, that he was an adult and I had to stop doing it.

"But I still made it for him – he knew I would look after him.

READ MORE

"Craig had a heart of gold, even if he was a pain in the backside at times and we will miss him.

"The room was loud when he was in it and it'll be quiet when he's not here.

"He'd bought himself a little white chihuahua which was his baby – we'd have thought he would have bought a rottweiler or something but a chihuahua.

"People couldn't believe that he had bought this tiny little dog, and not a big one."