A FUNDRAISER has been launched to pay for the celebration of life of a much loved dad and former taxi driver following his death after an alleged assault in which he suffered serious head injuries.

The death of Luke Pocock, aged 54, from Truro was announced on Thursday by his son Adam on Facebook. It followed an allged assault outside the Railway Social Club on Station Road in Truro at around 10:30pm on Saturday, July 2. Mr Pocock was taken to hospital in a serious condition after sustaining a head injury but later died.

The announcement of his death by his son on Facebook led to an outpouring of grief with more than 160 people expressing their condolences and their memories of Luke Pocock.

Posting on Facebook, Adam Pocock said: "Hello everyone, I’m sure everyone’s heard about what has happened but I just wanted to confirm it. Last night at 8:20pm we said our final goodbyes to our dad and has now joined his mum in heaven. Please just remember dad how for who he was. He was loved by many and his soul will never die we all love you dad say hello to all our loved ones we’ve lost. Please respect our privacy. Thank you."

Among many of the comments were Adam Puckey who said: "I literally cannot believe this has happened. I met Luke when he was driving the taxi and we both had a love of Final Fantasy. One of those people who'd always come over and say 'Hi' in the pub or in public and over the last 18 years or so I used to bump into him everywhere. What a tragic loss."

Colin Curless posted: "Luke was a great bloke who I had known for a number of years and used to love talking to him about past computer games and consoles and he would always have time to chat with anyone." While Danny Boyle said: "Very upset hearing the news. Used to take my wife Josie to work in his taxi for years. Was a lovely man."

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Now the daughter of Mr Pocock, Rebecca has launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to pay for her dad's funeral. It has already raised over £5,000 when its original goal was £3,000.

Launching the appeal Rebecca said: "My siblings and I lost our much loved dad Luke on July 28, 2022 following an assault a few weeks before, where he sustained serious head injuries which he never recovered from.

"My dad lived a life of simple means and hadn’t yet made any plans to pay for his own funeral, or had any pensions, savings or insurance policies. He was only 54, and due to this unexpected death we as a family don’t have much to contribute ourselves.

"There have been hundreds, if not thousands of messages, comments and statuses concerning how loved our dad was. He’s been labelled as the gentle giant among friends, and we’re all so heartbroken that his life has been so cruelly cut short.

"We hate to ask but we could do with a hand to pay for his Celebration of Life proceedings. we haven’t set a date yet as there is a long and winding legal process that has to happen first. Hopefully it won’t be too long. If anyone can spare a quid or two towards the cause then we’d be so grateful."

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