TRIBUTES have been paid to a 23-year-old Bolton Wanderers fan found dead in his Great Lever flat.

Stuart Cox's body was discovered by police in the building on Ainsdale Road on June 30.

Mr Cox had lost every member of his direct family, including grandmother Elizabeth, who died earlier this year.

A police investigation has found that the death was not suspicious.

Friends and distant relatives are now trying to raise money to give Mr Cox a fitting send-off.

An appeal has already attracted £850 in donations and the cost of the funeral is set to be about £2,400.

Trisha Thompson, Mr Cox's cousin, is the person now responsible for arranging the funeral

She said: "He has no immediate family. He was living on his own and he could not handle it. One of his friends found him and he is devastated by it.

"It is a big loss. I was really close to him. He was such a lively and happy lad."

Mr Cox's mother Josie died in 2009 and since then the former Harper Green School pupil had been living with his grandmother.

When she died in January, he was forced to leave the house and live on his own in the Ainsdale Road flat.

Miss Thompson, aged 23, said: "We are all missing him so much, he had his whole life ahead of him.

"It's hard to get our heads round it, but we know he's not suffering anymore and he's with the people he loved more than anything; his mum and nan."

A Coroner's Office spokesman said: "We can confirm that the death has been reported to us and enquiries are ongoing.

"No inquest date has been set yet."

A police spokesman said: "We were called to Ainsdale Road at 12.10pm and found a 23-year-old man dead.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious."

Funeral arrangements will be made when enough money has been raised and Mr Cox's body is released by the coroner's office.