Former BBC Northern Ireland political editor Stephen Grimason dies aged 67

Across three decades in journalism, Mr Grimason's career saw him report on some of the darkest, most notorious moments of Northern Ireland's Troubles.

As BBC NI’s political editor, he was the first journalist to get a leaked copy of the Good Friday Agreement, holding it up triumphantly on live TV saying “I have it in my hand”.

Three years later, he left the BBC to work for the devolved power-sharing Executive, taking up the role of director of communications for Stormont.

He held that until 2016, more than 40 years after he first embarked on a career as a journalist.

Paying tribute to Mr Grimason, Adam Smyth, the director of BBC Northern Ireland, said: "Stephen Grimason possessed the special talents that only the very best editors and correspondents exhibit - the audience always came away from his broadcasts feeling they knew and understood the political landscape better and they trusted what he had to say.

"Stephen's list of contacts and sources was so extensive he regularly seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else - including the politicians.

"His contribution to BBC Northern Ireland is deeply appreciated and we offer our sincerest condolences to Stephen's family."

A friend and long-time BBC colleague of Mr Grimason, Brian Rowan, remembered him "not just for the big stories, but for his courage to stand up to editors and to politicians, and to stand up for colleagues and for what was right".

The former BBC News NI security editor added that Mr Grimason was an inspiration during his illness, when he "worried more about others than himself".

"He told a few of us recently that you don't fight cancer, you cope with it. And I will remember always how brilliantly he coped," he said.

"There is a lot of remembering in the 40-plus years I knew Stephen; his wit, his lines but, most of all, having spent some time chatting with him in recent months, his strength in how he carried not just himself, but all those around him."

Earlier this year Mr Grimason was awarded the Queen’s University Chancellor’s Medal, alongside veteran reporter Ken Reid, in recognition for their services to journalism.

They were the first journalists to be awarded the accolade.

Mr Grimason was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 1957, and he started his journalism career in 1975, joining the Lurgan Mail before moving to the Ulster Star in Lisburn.

At just 27 years old, he became editor of the Banbridge Chronicle and after 12 years in newspaper journalism he joined the BBC in Northern Ireland.