SAD NEWS: BBC News’ Nina Warhurst ISSUES Heartbreaking statement after TRAGIC LOSS

BBC News presenter Nina Warhurst has shared her heartache as she celebrated the death of her father Chris at a family funeral. She revealed earlier this month that he died in a care home on July 2 following a lengthy battle with dementia. The 44-year-old mum-of-three took to Instagram to mark the emotional day with a series of snap of her family and friends as they marked his death online.

Her younger relatives and children could be seen wearing a full Manchester United football kit while the rest of the family could be seen wearing black with pops of red to celebrate her father’s favourite football team. She also shared a snap of her father’s celebration of life pamphlet with a sweet snap of her father laughing away.

Alongside the carousel of snaps from the emotional day, Nina shared a lengthy caption dedicated to her late father online. She wrote: “Ah Dad. You’d have been embarrassed at all the attention. But you’d have loved the kids in the football strips.

“You’d have loved the effort people made to come from far and wide. You’d have loved that everyone called you a gentleman, and everyone had a funny story. You’d have loved that your best pal who’s a [Manchester] City fan wore a [Manchester] United scarf.

“You’d have loved that we packed out your old local and then celebrated you into the night. You’d have loved the buffet. You’d have loved that all your kids remembered your most important life lesson – ‘Before you complain, count your blessings’. You’d love that I used to think this was a simple approach to life – but now I realise it strength and practice.”

“As does your second lesson – ‘Find the funny’. Even in death we laughed and laughed. I hope you knew how much we learned from you. I hope you knew how much we learned from you. I hope you knew we recognised the importance of love that is quiet and gentle and constant.”

She concluded: “We missed you that day – how could you be the one person missing?…. but you are vivid to us every day. I hope you know you will never die, because you are part of us forever. It know it.” It didn’t take long before her famous friends and loyal legion of fans flooded to comments to pass on their sympathies online.

Stacey Dooley and Helen Skelton simply shared a series of love heart emojis as her former BBC Breakfast colleague Jon Kay gushed: “Beautiful, Nina. You did him proud. As ever [heart emoji].”

Meanwhile one user penned: “What a lovely tribute Nina. Sending you and your family lots of love” as another gushed: “We always said my Dad would have loved his wake. We even had a sing song during the service which was amazing.”