Whether he was eradicating racism or getting criminals off the streets, activist Sucha Singh Gill did it with the Towns' people at heart.

The 79-year-old, who was behind the group Medway Love Music Hate Racism, has died of a heart condition.

He moved to Gordon Road, Gillingham, from India in 1963 and served as a magistrate on the central Kent bench for 25 years.

Speaking in 2011, he said: “I’m amazed at how generous UK culture is.

“I have no worries about how I will get through a day or week or month because help is always there, be it from the government or charities.

“I feel I’m in heaven living in Gillingham.

“When I send people to prison, my heart bleeds because I think, why do they still commit crime in a place where everything is available to them?”

The father-of-three was a Labour activist and candidate in Gillingham and Rainham and worked with the Kent Multi-Cultural Community Association.

He also won a Pride in Medway Award in 2010 for combatting discrimination with Medway Love Music Hate Racism.

The team ran an annual festival in Chatham to promote community cohesion and raise awareness of problems faced by minority groups.

Vijay Kumar Anand, who nominated Mr Gill for the award, described him as “clear-thinking, caring and benevolent”.

Medway Labour leader and Love Music Hate Racism founder, Cllr Vince Maple, said: “I will miss his great humour, generosity and kindness as well as his passion for a cohesive community.”

Friend and former Labour MP Paul Clark, who represented Gillingham from 1997 to 2010, said: “Sucha was always someone that you could rely on, who would go that extra mile.

“He would help so much with my work when I was MP and with the Labour Party.

“He played many roles locally, a magistrate and he was an ambassador for Medway and was in many organisations.

“The Labour Party will greatly miss his contribution and our thoughts are with his wife and family.”

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