TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular former Darwen MP who died at the weekend.

Sir Charles Fletcher-Cooke, 87, died at his home in the Oxfordshire village of Clifton Hampden on Saturday.

Sir Charles was MP for Darwen for more than 30 years until the constituency merged with Rossendale in 1983.

The man who succeded him, Sir David Trippier, said: "This is very sad news. Charles will be greatly missed."

Sir David also described him as: "A great constituency MP and a fantastic lawyer."

Sir Charles, born in London in May 1914, became a barrister in 1938. He was posted to America in 1943 to work with US naval inteligence.

On his return, he contested the East Dorset seat for the Labour Party in the 1945 election but became disenchanted with them and six years later was one of three short-listed candidates for the Conservative Party in the Darwen consituency .

He was not selected as the first preference but after the death of the original candidate.

He became MP for Darwen, holding the seat until 1983.

During his time in the House of Commons, Mr Fletcher-Cooke held a number of senior roles including joint undersecretary of state at the Home Office.

However, an incident in which he let a young boy drive and subsequently crash his car forced him to resign in 1963.

He also chaired commons select committees becoming also becoming a Member of the European Parliament in 1977.

The best moment of his life came in 1981 when he was knighted for services to both law and politics.

Sir Charles' personal life was just as notable.

A keen angler, tennis player and skier, he married Diane, who had been the third wife of Lord Avebury, in 1959. They divorced in 1967.

Sir David Trippier said: "I was already MP for Rossendale when he retired in 1983 so I had the privelege of working with him for four years. He was a fantastic man."