A 24-YEAR-OLD East Lancashire aerospace engineer has died suddenly on holiday in Australia.

Stephen Tipper was sightseeing in Sydney with two former schoolfriends when he suffered a brain haemorrhage and collapsed.

The BAe Systems worker, who lived with his parents in Elswick Gardens, Mellor, was on a four-month sabbatical travelling across Australasia.

He and his party had already visited Thailand and Malaysia and were about to set off for Alice Springs in Western Australia when the tragedy happened.

Stephen was a former pupil of St Mary's CE Primary School in Mellor and an old boy of Clitheroe Grammar School, where he was a keen footballer.

Headmaster Stuart Holt said: "The school community is very saddened to learn of the untimely death of Stephen.

"He was well-liked by all who knew him, and his teachers remember him as a super pupil. It is a tragedy for one so gifted to die so young."

Stephen graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in mechanical engineering and started work with BAe Systems.

He was one of the specialist team developing a new joint strike aircraft in partnership with Lockheed at the Samlesbury and Warton plants.

Professor Steve Rothberg, who was Stephen's tutor at Loughborough University, said: "I am shocked and saddened. Stephen was a lively, enthusiastic and very popular student. It's a great tragedy."

Stephen leaves parents Graham and Sonia, and a sister, Caroline, who lives in Surrey.

A service was taking place today at St Mary's Church, Mellor, followed by cremation at Pleasington.

The Vicar of St Mary's Church in Mellor, the Rev Peter Hudson, who was conducting the funeral service, said: "Stephen was a fine young man and a credit to his parents. He will be greatly missed."