THE heartbroken girlfriend of a Kilwinning dad who died suddenly last week, has paid tribute to him.

Carrie Sloan said goodbye to her partner Billy Reid and left for work on January 8 only to return hours later and find him dead in the living room of their Western Crescent home.

A postmortem found that Billy, who celebrated his 50th birthday just weeks before his death, suffered from Ischemic Heart Disease which eventually took his life.

Speaking through tears, Carrie, said Billy’s death has been a “complete shock” and the 39-year-old has been unable to return to the home they shared.

She said: “He told me he didn’t feel well that morning but said he just needed fresh air. I left for work and everything was normal and when I came home he was in the living room.

“He just would not go to the doctor and his heart disease has just built up and built up and it’s eventually killed him.

“We never knew he had it. “He was so fit. He ran the London Marathon twice so for this to happen to him so young is just a complete shock.

“I loved our wee home we made together, but I just can’t go back there after finding him the way that I did.”

Carrie says dad-of-two Billy, who was known to pals as ‘Buff’, was a dedicated dad to his two kids, Declan, 17 and Caitlin, 15.

She said: “Caitlin would go to football with him. His two kids were his whole world. He loved them so much. This has been very hard for them both. “Billy was loved by everyone who met him. He was just a great guy, full of life and fun.”

Billy was a “diehard” Kilbirnie Ladeside fan and thought of himself as a ‘Mod’. He was a member of the Kilbirnie Scooter Club.

“He played darts, pool and golf and he loved his scooter club. He was never in.

“He came from Kilwinning and his nickname was Buff, so you would have thought he would have supported the Buffs, but he adopted Ladeside as his team and he was a die hard fan.” Pals paid tribute to the Celtic-daft dad at the Hoops clash with Partick Thistle on Saturday with a huge banner while Kilbirnie Ladeside held a minute’s silence and issued a statement paying tribute to one of the club’s “dearest supporters”.

It said: “Over the last few months our club have lost a few of our dearest supporters/ players, the loss of Billy Reid particularly due to its suddenness has been difficult to comprehend. Billy was a huge character in every sense of the word.

“His devotion to everything he was involved in was clear to see, his love of music and football were his biggest passions. Kilbirnie Ladeside were very fortunate to have had his loyalty.

“The friendships he created far and wide is testimony to him as an extremely likeable individual, everybody loved Billy.

“It’s difficult to achieve that universal friendship but Billy mastered that through his extrovert character.

“To Carrie, Caitlin Declan and all Billy’s family and friends the Football Club extend our sincerest condolences to you all. We shall pay our respects to Billy on Saturday with a minutes applause prior to kick off.”