THE widow of a former Lancashire Evening Telegraph news editor and sports writer has paid tribute to her husband who died of a heart attack last week.

David Allin, 62, died on Wednesday at his home in Spout House Lane, Huncoat.

He had worked at the paper until 1988 when he suffered the first of three major heart attacks.

On the advice of doctors Mr Allin, who had also launched this newspaper's John Blunt column, became self-employed and left behind the pressure of the newsroom.

His wife of 30 years, Jennifer, 56, said her husband had altered his lifestyle in order to keep going in the wake of his health problems.

She said: "He was a courageous character. He had a heart attack 18 years ago, stopped smoking and traded the whisky for red wine.

"He did change his lifestyle and began walking.

"We went walking around Chamonix and through the Alps and he saw that as a great achievement for him.

"We often went walking on the Lake District fells.

"It was a big thing for him to keep fit and keep going after the heart attacks."

The couple met when Mr Allin, a former Royal Marine, was a reporter for the Accrington Observer more than 30 years ago.

He went on to hold several posts at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph including covering Blackburn Rovers, although the team was not his first footballing love.

She said: "I remember when he was in intensive care after his first heart attack.

"When he woke the first thing he said was how have Arsenal gone on?' They were his true love.

"He could be quite blunt as a news editor but I think he loved his job and found it quite hard to get that buzz when he went and worked on his own."

The couple's son Simon, 23, is at York University doing a masters degree in English.

Mr Allin also has two other children, Steven and Sue, from his first marriage.