THE family of a 20-year-old Didcot man killed in a motorcycle accident have paid tribute to the "amazing lad everybody loved".

Grant Embling, who lived with his parents, Mike and Jan, in Sinodun Road, died after a crash on the A4130 near Didcot on September 26.

Since his death, hundreds of tributes from around the globe have been posted on a computer forum he founded two years ago.

Mike Embling said his son was a people's person who was loved by all who met him. He added the response to Grant's death on the website www.cpcff.co.uk had been overwhelming.

Mr Embling said: "He touched more hearts in his 20 years than I will do in my lifetime. He was something else. He was the son that everybody would want."

Grant had recently completed a forensics course at Oxpens college in Oxford and was planning to back-pack around the world.

A former Hagbourne Primary and St Birinus School pupil, his two passions were motorcycling and computers.

Mr Embling said: "He was unassuming, he wasn't worried about praise and everything. That was Grant. Everybody who met him loved him. He was so popular and we have had so many cards and flowers."

He added: "He could talk about anything. I think that's why people could talk to him. They would pour their hearts out to him."

Mr Embling said his son had founded the computer forum cpcff.co.uk two years ago and it had remained his main passion.

The site offers advice on computer problems but also contains messages boards for users to discuss personal and emotional issues.

"Tributes have been posted from all over the world," said Mr Embling. "He was their counsellor, the man who put their computer right, everything. We knew he ran it but didn't realise how big it was."

Amongst the hundreds of tributes to GE007 - Grant's user name - one read: "We will really miss you Grant, founder of the greatest forum ever known, a great friend to many and a son and a brother."

Ian Gilbert, an administrator for the site, said Grant's energy and compassion had endeared him to hundreds of site users - many of whom had never met him in person.

Mr Gilbert, who lives in Edinburgh, said tributes had flooded in after news of Grant's death was posted on the site.

Mr Gilbert said many site users, including himself, were planning to attend Grant's funeral.

Grant had also worked at Mill Hill Tools on Saturdays for the past seven years.

The provisional date for the funeral is Thursday, October 12, 11.30am, at St Peter's Church.