MORE than 300 people packed into a church yesterday to say goodbye to a young man whose death was described as "nothing short of a tragedy".

Billy Hunter, 25, was found dead in Durham Prison's healthcare centre last week.

Drug addict Mr Hunter was serving a two-and-a-half year sentence after being convicted at Durham Crown Court in October of supplying or being involved in supplying heroin in east Durham.

Earlier this week, his 62-year-old father, also called Billy, said: "He was a drug addict and he paid for it with his life."

Mr Hunter's popularity was endorsed yesterday when mourners packed St Mary's Church, in Easington Village, to say farewell to a man who spent his whole life in the community.

Canon Keith Woodhouse said: "It is with deep shock and sadness and also a great sense of disbelief that Billy is no longer with us."

Mr Hunter had attended the village's primary and comprehensive schools and had built up a large circle of friends.

After reflecting on Mr Hunter's life and his love of his parents Billy and Ann, sisters Lynn and Lisa and grandmother Mary, Canon Woodhouse ended his funeral address saying: "The situation we are now in is nothing short of tragedy and leaves us all in sheer disbelief."

Mr Hunter's coffin was carried from the church as Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You was played.

An inquest has been opened into the death and a full hearing will be held later this year. Mr Hunter's death is not being treated as suspicious.