Covid: Tesco staff pay tribute to colleague John Deacy

Staff gathered outside a supermarket to pay their respects to a colleague who died with coronavirus.

John Deacy, 81, worked the Christmas Eve shift at the Tesco Extra store in Gabalfa, Cardiff, died just two weeks later.

Friends and colleagues clapped as the funeral procession went by the store.

Former members of a jazz band, formed by Mr Deacy in the 1970s, marched in front of the hearse.

His son, Wayne, 56, said: “My dad put everyone above himself. He’d do anything for anyone.

"He’d help anyone and would never speak badly of people.”

Mr Deacy was in the Royal Marines for seven years and was a semi-professional boxer before starting a career at the industrial gas company BOC.

He went on to work for the supermarket for 16 years.

“We’ve had loads and loads of messages from hundreds of staff who said he will leave a massive gaping hole," his son said.