A heartbroken fiancee today spoke of the struggle to explain to her four-year-old daughter how her dad died in a terrible accident.

Louise Munday was left devastated when her partner Martin Baker was tragically killed after he fell into a paper compactor at work.

She said the 38-year-old was a devoted dad to their only child Jessica who could not understand why he wasn't coming home.

Miss Munday, who lived with her partner at Andover Green in Holme Wood, said the accident had shaken the whole family.

"I am absolutely gutted, it is something that happens to other people, not to you," she said.

"I have told Jessica her dad has gone to heaven but apart from that she doesn't understand.

"I am getting ready for those horrible words when she asks for her dad and I dread what she says next.

"He loved Jessica to bits. He would do anything for her and she is a daddy's girl - it hasn't hit home yet."

Mr Baker suffered multiple injuries in the accident at a waste-processing depot in Bow-ling Back Lane where he had worked for a year through Prime Time Recruitment agency in Bradford.

Firefighters battled in vain to try to save him from the powerful hydraulic machine on Thursday.

The Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation to find out what happened.

Miss Munday said her mum Christine, who lives in Shipley, is staying with her and she is trying to be strong for her daughter's sake.

"He was so proud of Jessica," she said. "She is due to start at Fernville School in September and we were looking forward to going to buy her first uniform together. He did adore her, she was the apple of his eye and she loved her dad.

"He was always here for me. He was a family man and he very rarely went out without me."

On the morning of the tragedy, she said Martin took Jessica to nursery before going to work.

"When I got home the car wasn't back and I thought it must have broken down," she said.

"I was going to go down to work to look for him when the police came to the door."

Miss Munday went with the police to speak to his mum Pat Barker, who lives with her partner John at Heath Terrace in Bradford Moor, to break the sad news about her youngest son.

"I just said 'oh no, it isn't Martin is it?' - you just sense it, don't you?," said Mrs Barker. "I had heard on the news and there can't be that many 38-year-olds working there."

Mrs Barker said his son and fiancee had lived with them for four years until they moved to Holme Wood and he had enjoyed his job so much at the site he even did some shifts at the Queensbury site.

"He was such a happy go lucky person who never let anything bother him, I just cannot believe he has gone.

"He had a very strong relationship with Louise and his daughter who loved her daddy and he would do anything for her, he would bend over backwards.

"Louise has told Jessica her daddy has gone to heaven and we will have to look for his star. She will ask for him but Louise knows we are always here for her."

Mr Baker has an 18-year-old son Gareth from a previous relationship. He was a keen Bradford Bulls fan and West Ham supporter and was goalkeeper for Sunday league side Coach and Horses.