A COMMUNITY is united in grief after the death of the village postman - described as the 'light of the village.'

Stuart Looker, 25, was found hanged in an area of Sherburn known as the Scrambles, on Monday last week.

Within hours of his body being discovered the spot had been turned into a shrine. People placed flowers, cards, poems, bottles of beer, a football and football shirts there.

Mr Looker lived with his parents, Colin and Rita, on Liddle Avenue and as well as being the village postman, he was also a member of the Lampton Arms pub football team.

He was always on hand to help people to do odd jobs.

Friend Stephen Jones said: "Every single card on that tree says the same thing, about how he made people laugh and how people won't smile as much now. One card says, 'it's unbelievable that a person who could make you smile or make an occasion just by being there, is the same person that has made a village cry.'

"He just never seemed to have a care in the world. He smiled at everybody. People in their sixties and young kids have left flowers there. It's absolutely unbelievable."

In Sherburn Village Working Mens' Club, people were buying pints in Mr Looker's memory and leaving them at the bar, while others have written poems and stuck them on the walls of the Lampton Arms pub.

One friend said: "He was the light of the village. He never did wrong by anybody. He touched the hearts of young and old. It's just unbelievable. There's bottles of beer left at the bottom of the tree and pints of beer left in the bar for him."

Friend Will Oliver, said it was not just people in the village who have been devastated by his death.

He said: "Everyone who met him, or bumped into him, or had a bit of a crack with him never forgot him. He had an aura about himself which was just magic. I feel sorry for the people who never met him, because they don't know what they've missed."

St Mary's Church in Sherburn was packed on Saturday for Mr Looker's funeral.

An inquest into his death was opened last Thursday by North Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle and adjourned until a later date.