This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

The TV mystic Derek Acorah has died aged 69, his wife has said.

The self-styled spiritual medium, whose real name is Derek Johnson, appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and launched the paranormal reality TV series Most Haunted in 2001.

His wife, Gwen Acorah, shared the news in a statement on his official Facebook page, adding that the psychic had been in intensive care after falling into a coma. “Farewell my love! I will miss you forever! I’m devastated to announce that my beloved husband Derek has passed away after a very brief illness,” she wrote.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Helen Lederer, Derek Acorah and Sarah Harding on Celebrity Big Brother in August 2017. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

“Thank you so much to everybody who has supported me – I can never thank you enough.”

Acorah found fame as a spiritual medium and fronted Predictions With Derek Acorah early in his TV career. He went on to appear in series 20 of Celebrity Big Brother, where he came fourth.

Acorah, who was born in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1950, featured in regular segments on 1996 TV show The Psychic Zone before becoming a contributor on spin-off show Psychic Livetime.

His own show, Predictions With Derek Acorah, where he would conduct readings with members of the public in their own homes, became a frontrunner for the genre of paranormal investigation programmes.

In 2001, Acorah joined Most Haunted when it launched and worked on the show for six series. Years later, he fronted Michael Jackson: The Live Seance, in which the medium attempted to contact the singer’s spirit.