Columnist Sue Carroll dies of cancer, aged 58

SUE CARROLL: The journalist wrote a column for the Daily Mirror for 13 years and described her fight with cancer (PA)

Tributes were paid last night to the veteran newspaper columnist and broadcast pundit Sue Carroll, who has died aged 58 from cancer.

The journalist wrote a weekly column for the Daily Mirror for the past 13 years and movingly described her 18-month battle against the disease, hitting out at cuts to NHS services. She died at her home on Christmas night.

Editor Richard Wallace said she had faced a "long and painful illness with enviable fortitude". He said: "Until the final few days she was still doing what she loved the most: reading the papers and giving her inimitable thoughts on the world around us – with, of course, the odd no-nonsense rant thrown in.

"Sue was part of the heart and soul of the Daily Mirror – and had a direct line to our readers." Associate editor Kevin Maguire described her as the "queen of columnists".

Carroll moved to London from her native Newcastle in the 1970s. She worked on a number of Fleet Street titles including The Sun and the News of the World before joining the Mirror.

She was a regular on The Alan Titchmarsh Show – making a return to the programme in March eight months after being diagnosed.