A MUM has paid tribute to her son who was ‘her world’ and said she will never forget what a beautiful person he was.

Grieving mum Gill Furness said she will always remember her son Lee as someone that cared for others before himself.

She said: “He was my world and I don’t know what I will do without him. I will always remember him as a beautiful little boy with blond hair who loved to build things.”

Speaking at the funeral of Lee Furness yesterday, his girlfriend Fleur Wakefield told crowds of mourners: “What a character – nobody ever truly knew him – as soon as you thought you had figured him out he’d surprise you and I don’t think anyone will ever forget him.”

Lee, 33, known to his friends as Fungus or Dr F, was found hanged outside Vaughan’s Bistro on Weymouth harbourside last Wednesday.

He was described affectionately as a caring, unforgettable man and a renowned character. Lee grew up in Bridport and attended Sir John Colfox School before attending Weymouth College to study music.

His mum said that Lee’s passion in life was doing up classic cars and playing his bass guitar with friends.

She said: “There were always shells of cars all around the place – ones he was doing up and ones he was keeping.

“Cars were the love of his life- even as a child he used to sleep with his Dinky car in bed with him. “He was excellent at doing cars up and for me it was like having my own mechanic.”

Gill described her son as ‘not being like everyone else’ and said that as a teenager he would have mood swings and had received treatment for his depressive moods.

She said often he would cover up who he truly was so that people did not see the real him, and was always helping other people’s needs before his own.

She added that he would be truly honoured and amazed by the amount of friends who came tos his funeral.

In the eulogy read at Weymouth Crematorium yesterday, Fleur, 32, she said that Lee and her had been virtually inseparable since getting together four years ago.

She said: “He was the sort of person who would disappear for hours and have an amazing story to tell about what happened to him. “ “Everyone he knows has a story to tell about him too – he touched so many people in so many ways.”

She added: “He had a dark side that he tried to hide from those he loved – for fear of causing them distress.

“The last year had been hard for him – uncontrollable things happened and Lee was deeply troubled by them – but as usual he preferred not to talk about them – it was his own personal battle every time.”

For years Lee played bass guitar with friends and played in bands in and around Weymouth and before he died he was planning to join a new band.