A MAN found with serious head injuries in a Leominster street on New Year's Day has died.

Stephen O'Connor was found by passers-by at around 7.20am in Godiva Road, a street off Buckfield Road, and he was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Sadly he died the next day, following surgery, on his 63rd birthday.

He lived with his sister, Sheila Tate, in Wegnalls Way and had spend New Year's Eve in the Barons Cross Inn in Barons Cross Road.

Sheila said: "He was very well liked around here. He worked at Leominster Engineering Limited [in Southern Avenue] for around ten years."

She said he was born in Northampton and also had three other sisters.

Sheila said: "When he was five he used to play at accordion. He passed his exams when he was five/six-year-old. He got honours but as he got older he stopped playing his accordion."

He worked on a farm as he was growing up and liked nature and fishing.

Sheila said: "When he was 23-years-old he had a motorbike accident which caused him a few problems. They did tell him he would never do anything but he proved them all wrong."

He worked at ABI Equipment Ltd in Northampton for 25 years.

When he was in his 40s he had a brain haemorrhage, but it did not hold him back and he recovered.

When his mum died, who he lived with at the time, he stayed in Northampton for a few years before moving to Herefordshire around 12 years ago to live with Sheila in Leominster.

Sheila said: "He has enjoyed his life here and he was very well known over at the Barons Cross Inn. They are doing a fundraising collection up there."

He was walking home when he was found in Godiva Road.

Sheila said: "He has always been a true gentleman. He would never swear. He would do anything for anyone. It seems such a shame he has gone the way he has.

"They don't know if he had another brain haemorrhage or whether he had a fall." She said a post mortem has not yet taken place.

Sheila works nights at Waverley House as a support worker and found the police waiting at her home in the morning to deliver the tragic news.

She thanked Sandra and Martin Beaumont-Pike who found Stephen and called the ambulance. She also thanked all of the emergency services and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Sheila added: "He was very much loved and cared about. He will be sadly missed by lots of people."