Morethan 160 people gathered at a Canvey church to pay their respects to a zookeeper crushed to death by an elephant.

Darren Cockrill, formerly of Southfalls Road, Canvey, was killed last month at the Port Lympne Wildlife Park, near Hythe in Kent.

A memorial service to celebrate the 27-year-old's life was held at St Nicholas' Church in Long Road yesterday.

The Rev David Tudor, who led the service, said: "There was tremendous support from family and friends.

"There were people there who knew him from his school days at Leigh Beck Primary School and Furtherwick Park as well as friends from various jobs at Basildon Zoo and Colchester Zoo.

"There were friends from each phase of his life and the amount of people there, showed the way he had touched the lives of so many people by his personality and his great love of nature and animals."

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