Tributes to Pompey fan found dead in woodland

MOVING tributes have been paid to a '˜big-hearted' Pompey fan found dead in woodland.
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Friends of Tyler Smith, 23, have said his ‘great character’ will live on when Fratton Park explodes with applause in the 23rd minute of tomorrow’s match to celebrate his life.

Tyler, who shot to infamy in 2015 when he ran from the stands to take a goalkick at the Blues’ home ground in 2015, went missing on Sunday.

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A body was found in a woodland near Plymouth in the search for him on Monday.

Tyler SmithTyler Smith
Tyler Smith

Friend Harriet Craddock, 24, who met Tyler when they were pupils at Solent Junior School, said: ‘He had a massive group of friends and was loved by absolutely everybody. He had such a great character that grew on everybody, he was such a lovely person to be around. He had a big heart, northing was too much trouble – he was genuinely a lovely guy.’

It’s thought he was in Plymouth for the Pompey game and to visit his family after his brother returned from a trip to Australia.

Harriet has appealed to all fans at the Charlton match tomorrow to applaud in the 23rd minute to mark his life.

‘It’s just to give back what he gave to Pompey,’ she said.

Tyler Smith outside Fratton ParkTyler Smith outside Fratton Park
Tyler Smith outside Fratton Park
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Harriet added: ‘He loved being around his friends, his family, he spent a lot of the time in the pub just clowning with his friends.’

Tyler had taken the goalkick at the 2015 York City game at Fratton Park when Blues fans grew tired of away goalkeeper Scott Flinders, who they felt was wasting time in the match.

He later told The News he did not do it in a ‘vicious way’ and ‘didn’t realise how serious it was at the time’.

Police said formal identification of the body found in the search for Tyler, after he went missing on Sunday, has not been completed but his family were informed.