'˜He was so kind and funny...a lovely man'

Antonio Martin-Melero, owner of Meditteranean family restaurant Mi Casa Su Casa on Red Bank Road, died on Thursday shortly after complaining of a sore throat, which he put down to tonsillitis.

He was just three weeks short of celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his wife, Victoria, 27.

She said: “He had a bit of a sore throat and in the middle of the night he started having difficulties with breathing.

“From when he woke me up to when the ambulance came he deteriorated very quickly.”

Antonio was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead in the early hours of the morning.

His family have now paid tribute to the ‘hard-working’ businessman as they wait to discover the cause of his tragic death.

Victoria said: “His whole life was his family and his business. He was very kind, charismatic and cheeky.

“Everyone is heartbroken.

“He was really fit and healthy. To look at him you’d think he wasn’t the sort of person something like this could happen to.

“He had a sore throat but we just thought it was tonsillitis. He was going to go to the doctors the next day. It happened so suddenly.

“We’re looking forward to getting some answers because at the moment we’re in limbo. We just can’t get our heads around it.”