Hundreds of people attended the funeral of popular butcher David “Dazy” Saunders in his home village of St Michaels, Tenterden this morning.

The 34-year-old father-of-three was found dead at the family home in Grange Road, St Michael’s, on Christmas Day morning.

A big crowd joined his family and friends for a tribute procession from The Crown pub to the nearby St Michael’s Church, where the funeral took place.

An appeal set up in Mr Saunders’ memory by Harry Purewal, landlord of The Crown, raised £3,500 in the first 15 minutes and donations are still flooding in.

Mr Saunders’ widow, Kelly, said: “It helps us to know how much Dazy was loved. It is good to know that he was held in such high regard by everyone."

Mr Saunders was a regular at The Crown and was drinking there on Christmas Eve, hours before he died.

His wife was unable to wake him early on Christmas Day. The couple have three children, Daisy-Mae, four, Beau, two, and Vincent, 11 months.

Mr Saunders worked for Farm Butchers which has shops in St Michael’s and Tenterden.

He was a former retained fireman in Tenterden and the crew from the fire station at St Michael’s was among those who took part in the procession from the pub to the church.

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