A WELL-KNOWN busker who performed in the city for 37 years has died at the age of 72.

Thomas “Tommy” James Morris, of Bishopthorpe, was best known in York as a skilled harmonica player and artist who regularly played outside Crabtree and Evelyn in St Helen’s Square.

His sister, Myra Cook, who was very close to her brother, said: “He loved busking. The snow could be thick on the ground or he could be raining and he would still sit there with his cowboy hat on.

“His death is going to be the biggest loss of my life, he was part of me.”

Myra said Tommy struggled to come to terms with losing his leg at the age of 22 when he was hitchhiking home from London to Glasgow, The driver he was travelling with fell asleep at the wheel and collided with a lorry carrying sandbags.

Tommy suffered life- threatening injuries and had 200 stitches as a result of the collision.

His right leg was also seriously injured and never properly healed, causing him “agony” throughout his life, Myra said. The injuries triggered a dependency on painkillers and then led to the addiction to harder drugs which Tommy struggled with for the rest of his life.

He moved to York in the 1970s and although he eventually went to live in Bishopthorpe, Tommy spent spells living in the homeless shelter in Peasholme Green where he was like a “father figure” to the younger people living on the streets, Myra said.

In the year before his death Tommy was extremely distressed by the death of his 19-year-old daughter Annabelle.

Earlier this year, an inquest found that Annabelle was found hanging in the bedroom of the house she shared with her father nine days after she learned that her baby son had new adoptive parents.

An open verdict was recorded as Coroner Donald Coverdale said he believed her actions were a cry for help.

Lorna Dawber, Tommy’s niece, said: “For the last year he has not wanted to be here because of what happened to Annabelle. He thought about it all the time. Tommy was a very funny man and had a heart of gold. He would give anybody his last penny, he was very generous.

Tommy died from chronic obstructive airway disease after suffering from a series of chest infections.

His funeral will be held at St Andrew’s Church in Bishopthorpe at 1.30pm on Friday and will feature music including Frank Sinatra’s My Way.