TRIBUTES have been paid to multiple sclerosis sufferer Vincent McKeown, who fought to stay in the Oxford council home where he lived for more than a decade.

Mr McKeown, 55, of Abbey Place, died on November 21. His funeral is being held at Oxford Crematorium, today at 2.15pm.

When the city council agreed that Abbey Place would have to be demolished to make way for the £330m redevelopment of the Westgate Centre, Mr McKeown went to the High Court in London to challenge the decision.

He lost his 2007 bid for a judicial review but remained in his home in Abbey Place, where he had lived for over a decade, because he did not believe alternative accommodation offered by the council was suitable for his needs.

Towards the end of his life, Mr McKeown could only communicate by blinking.

Christian Pattison, Mr McKeown’s carer for the past 15 years, said: “Vincent always stood up for what he believed in, and stood up for other people.”

Mr Pattison’s brother Terry, 60, an IT consultant from Maidstone, added: “Vincent was a battler and liked having a cause to fight.”

Mr McKeown said his brother was a caring person, who would often spring to the defence of the oppressed and downtrodden.

On one occasion, he chased off a gang in Maidstone who were attacking a tramp. Another time he came to the rescue of a restaurateur who was being assaulted.

Vincent McKeown was born in Maidstone, Kent, on February 6, 1954.

From an early age, he showed an interest in football, supporting Sunderland FC. He also played football for both school and village teams.

He attended Maidstone Technical School, going on St David’s University College, Lampeter, in Wales, where he read English.

As an undergraduate, he ran the New Literary Society, bringing poets and writers like Ted Hughes to one of the UK’s most remote colleges.

After graduating in 1976, he studied for a postgraduate teaching certificate at Aberystwyth. He worked initially in Leamington and went on to teach in various parts of the UK and Ireland before moving to Beirut to work.

On one occasion, during a phone call home, his family could hear Israeli jets in the background and the sound of explosions nearby.

Much to the relief of his family, Mr McKeown returned to the UK in 1982.

One of his colleagues and a bar owner that he knew were later kidnapped and held to ransom for several years.

Back in Europe, Mr McKeown worked again in Ireland and then in Cambridge before moving to Oxford to work at what was then Oxford Poly- technic.

By now, it was clear that he was not well and he was soon diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Mr McKeown struggled on despite increasing disability, and suffered numerous falls from his bicycle.

It was one of these incidents that led to his introduction to Mr Pattison, who was to become his best friend and carer for the rest of his life.