Daily Mirror columnist Sue Carroll dies from pancreatic cancer

Carroll, who was also a television pundit on the Alan Titchmarsh Show, had written a frank account of her fight against cancer in the newspaper.

Wallace said although colleagues knew of her illness, her death had still come as a "great shock".

"Sue had faced her long and painful illness with enviable fortitude.

"Until the final few days she was still doing what she loved the most: reading the papers and giving her inimitable thoughts on the world around us - with, of course, the odd no-nonsense rant thrown in.

"Sue was part of the heart and soul of the Daily Mirror - and had a direct line to our readers. But she was also very close to some of us personally. So first and foremost we grieve a great friend."

Carroll's column was a weekly fixture in the Daily Mirror for 13 years.

Born in Newcastle, Carroll moved to London in the 1970s, where she worked on magazines and newspapers, including The Sun and the News of the World, before settling at The Mirror.

In a piece about her cancer battle published in the newspaper in March she spoke of the moment she learned of her diagnosis.

"I suspect we all harbour fears of how we might react to being told that, in life's great lottery, we've got the disease neither money nor the best brains in medical science can guarantee to permanently eradicate.

"I always imagined I'd rant and scream: 'Why me?' wrote.

"Instead, I froze and stared at the floor as my doctor revealed the results of a CT scan. There were no ifs, buts or arguments - this technology is cruelly accurate."