Tributes have been paid to a 50-year-old photographer who died in a flat fire.

Rich Cottee passed away after flames swept through his home in Parrock Street, Gravesend, on Sunday, May 13, at 7pm.

He was a website builder and photographer who took many pictures of the town and was regarded as being a well- known figure within the community.

Dawn Cox, 51, of Southfleet, knew Mr Cottee for three years after becoming friends with him on Facebook.

She said they spent time together taking pictures around the borough.

She said: “He helped a lot in the art community around here.

“He was always there to help anybody with any requests.

“He was a very nice man who would have done anything for anybody. If you had a problem editing a picture, he would be the man to go to. I would love to organise a memorial for him, just something around Gravesend.”

Mr Cottee worked with Graham Long, Gravesham council’s town centre manager, on The Welcome Sofa project which saw the public sit on a couch, that was moved around the town, in order to create a photographic display.

Mr Long said he will re-visit the project and re-launch it this summer in his memory.

He said: “Rich was a talented photographer who very much loved to capture Gravesend at all hours of the day and night, he will be sorely missed.”

Dawn Hodgson, of Cambridge, who has been friends with Mr Cottee for five years, said: “He was a very talented photographer who loved to help people. He was a dear sweet man who I loved dearly and will always be missed.”

Neighbours only knew him as a photographer and planned to lay flowers outside the building where he died. Three fire engines attended, and all four flats in the block were evacuated while crews extinguished the flames.The cause of the fire is unknown.