FORMER Dorset Echo sports editor Jack Wyllie has died after a short illness. He was 75.

Jack, who worked for the Echo for over 40 years, started his career in newspapers straight from school as a junior reporter with the weekly Weymouth and Portland Times and its sister paper, the Dorset County Chronicle.

He also reported on Weymouth, Dorchester and Portland football clubs.

His career was interrupted when he was called up for National Service but when he left the Army, he joined the then Dorset Evening Echo as a reporter in March, 1960.

Jack later became a news and features sub-editor before helping out on the sports desk and was appointed sports editor in 1970.

A keen horse racing follower, Jack regularly confounded the bookies with his daily selections while writing as Echo tipster Tom Street. He retired on his 65th birthday in August 2000, a year after moving from the Echo’s former offices in St Thomas St, Weymouth, to the new headquarters on the Granby Industrial Estate.

He leaves Eileen, his wife of 55 years, his sons Paddy and Andrew, himself a former Echo reporter, and two grandchildren.

Jack’s funeral will be held at Weymouth Crematorium on Wednesday, June 1, at 1.45pm.