Tributes are being paid to a Monmouth man and former town councillor and party leader of the Welsh Independent Group.

Gary Witcombe was a force to be reckoned with and his knowledge of the Monmouth Charter was unrivaled.

In 2005, he spearheaded a campaign to get Wyesham its own Community Council, meaning a complete break from Monmouth Town Council.

He claimed that the approximate 1,700 people of Wyesham community paid a precept of £28.13 a head to Monmouth Town Council and “very little of this finds its way back to the people of Wyesham”.

He was one of eight children and born at Cherry Tree Cottage in Lower Stoney Road, Garndiffaith, his father, Harry, was a miner.

He served as a 17-year-old soldier with the 24th Regiment The South Wales Borderers and saw active service in The Far East.

“It was terrifying. We faced foot rot, slept in hammocks over the swamps and trained in jungle warfare.

"I’ve always said if you can survive two years in the Malayan jungle as a soldier you can get through anything.

“We used the hammocks in the swamps which I didn’t like as you couldn’t get to sleep because you thought you would fall out of it and into the swamp.

He met his future wife, Rosemary in Monmouth whilst visiting an army friend and married at Pontypool Registry in 1959, a week before he was posted to Germany where he stayed for almost three years and patrolled The Berlin Wall.

He moved to Monmouth in 1961 and was town councillor for eight years between 1999 and 2007, representing Wyesham.

He passed away in August, aged 89 years and was the devoted husband of Rose, dad of Maxine, Kerry, Lisa and the late Shane and a special Grandad and Great Grandad.

Additional reporting by Kath Skellon