TRIBUTES have been paid to a 44-year-old father-of-three who has died following a battle with cancer.

Friends and family of Lance Corporal Billy Trotter gathered at York Crematorium to say their goodbyes, after he died on May 31 following a four-year fight against the disease.

Lance Corporal Trotter, who spent 12 years with the RAF at Linton-on-Ouse before joining the Military Provost Guard Service, was born in Uganda in 1966, but moved with his family to the UK as a toddler.

He joined the RAF in 1984, and served with squadrons in Germany, Belize and The Falklands, before ending his career at RAF Leeming in 1996.

Lance Corporal Trotter worked as an ambulance driver and postman near the North Yorkshire RAF base, before he joined the Royal Auxiliary Airforce 609 Squadron, and was mobilised to Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 under Operation Telic.

It was while serving with 609 Squadron that he met his second wife, Sarah. They married in 2005, before they moved to RAF Linton-on-Ouse and he started a new career with the Military Provost Guard Service, responsible for security at military establishments.

Flight Lieutenant David Williams, of RAF Linton-on-Ouse, said: “Billy was a true friend to many people. His fight with cancer was a long one, but without exception, all who came into contact with Billy were struck by the courage he displayed throughout.

“Not one to complain, he overcame periods of incredible discomfort and pain with great humility and a good deal of self-deprecating humour.

The sheer number of visitors to Billy at St Margaret’s Hospice in Easingwold, where his room and adjoining area became known as ‘Billy’s Village’ was a true testament to a good man and a great friend.”

He is survived by Sarah and their son Hamish, aged four, as well as twins from a previous marriage, Ewan and Abbey, both 14.