JOURNALIST Roy Plascott, who worked for the Kent Messenger Group for half a century, has died in Gravesend. He was 86.

Mr Plascott, who lived all his life in North Kent, leaves a widow, Joyce. They had two children.

Mr Plascott was well-known throughout Kent for a series of articles, run over several years, about leisure walks.

He began his career as an apprentice journalist in Gravesend in 1936 and lived in the town and worked for the KM Group for the rest of his career, apart from war service in the RAF.

His roles included Gravesend district editor, chief reporter, news editor, special projects editor, diary editor, leader writer and columnist.

He was the first news editor of the group's daily paper, the Chatham-based Evening Post, which was launched in 1968.

At the time of his retirement from full-time work in November 1984, he was county news editor, coordinating the news service for 14 papers across the county.

He continued on a part-time basis for a number of years as a sub-editor.