Tributes have been paid to estate agent Mike Wainwright who has died suddenly while on holiday aged just 40.

Wainwright, from Saltash, was a director of family owned firm Wainwright Estate Agents and well-known and respected throughout Plymouth where he had once held senior roles at The Herald and Western Morning News.

His father Tony Wainwright, managing director at the estate agency, said the family was heartbroken at the tragic loss.

He commented: “We are devastated. Our family is in absolute bits and trying to come to terms with this terrible news.”

“Mike was loved by so many. He is going to leave a massive hole in many people’s hearts and lives. As a family we are broken with grief.”

A number of messages and tributes have been posted on social media, including many by former colleagues of Wainwright ’s at The Herald and Western Morning News.

Jeanette Arvidsson, who worked with Wainwright in Plymouth, said: “The news of your passing has left so many heartbroken and in disbelief. I am going to miss you. Fly high beautiful friend.”

Another ex-colleague, Terri Reeves, posted: “He was such a big part of so many people’s lives and so many of us loved him so much. Cherish those amazing memories.”

Tony Wainwright said that the messages of support had given him and Mike’s mother, Jenny Wainwright, and his sister Emma Horswell “much comfort at this dark time”.

According to his father, Mike was found dead on Saturday in an unexpected accident while on a short weekend break in Cornwall. He had worked with his son at the family estate agency, in Saltash, for the past six years.

Mike attended Saltash Community School where he excelled in his exams and went on to work for companies such as House of Fraser and Miller Countrywide before joining The Herald and Western Morning News in 2013 where he became head of property advertising. He left in 2017 to join the estate agency his father had established two years previously. He was responsible for the letting division.