A MAN has spoken of the final minutes he spent with his stepson following a fatal fall.

Steven Guiney, from Guisborough, east Cleveland, and his wife, Christine, spent only a few minutes with their son, Anthony Porritt, at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, before he died.

Mr Porritt, 22, a factory worker, from Ashton Street, Easington Colliery, east Durham, was with friends in Saltburn on Saturday when the accident happened at 7.15pm.

The friends were on their way to a pub on Saltburn Bank when Mr Porritt rolled down a 30ft slope as a joke, but lost his footing and hit his head on the pavement.

Mr Guiney said: "We just can't believe he's gone. We only had three minutes with him at the hospital before he died."

Mrs Guiney said she had lost the love of her life.

"He has paid for his jokes with his life," she said. "The only think I can think of is that he died with a smile on his face. He was out with his friends, doing what he loved."

Flowers and a Middlesbrough Football Club T-shirt have been left on Saltburn Bank as a tribute to Mr Porritt, who was a former pupil of the De Brus school, Skelton.

He also leaves his father, Tike Porritt, stepmother Kim and a brother Carl, 13, and sister Emma, 11.

His funeral will be held at 11am tomorrow at All Saints' Church, Skelton.