Paul Bentley, 45 years a staff photographer with the Telegraph & Argus until his retirement in 2007, has died at the age of 65.

He joined the T&A aged 16 from City High School, chosen from 300 applicants, and was immediately sent to photograph a works outing to Blackpool.

Paul saw all of life through his lens, photographing the Royal family, Princess Diana in Shipley, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at Valley Parade the day after the May 11, 1985 fire disaster.

He was called out to the Yorkshire Ripper killings and the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, when wreckage and 258 bodies from a bombed Pan Am 747 jet fell on the Scottish town.

In February 1974, he was sent to the scene of the IRA bombing of a coach on the M62 near Birkenshaw, in which 12 people were killed.

T&A Editor Perry Austin-Clarke said: “Paul was a true gentleman. He was a great ambassador for the newspaper, renowned for his good manners and his gentle courtesy towards everyone he photographed.

“His 45 years with the T&A were a fantastic achievement and his untimely loss is a real blow. Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”

Yet quietly spoken Paul might have had a different career as a musician.

At the age of 13 he passed with distinction the Grade IV Royal Schools of Music examination. Later, he played electric guitar in a local rock band and appeared at The Gaumont, later the Odeon, in support of The Grumbleweeds.

He leaves a wife, Glenda, a son Simon and a daughter Samantha.

The family say they would like to thank the staff in the resuscitation unit at Dewsbury Hospital.