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A homeless man who became known nationally for his honesty has died, sparking an outpouring of grief on social media.

Now a fundraising campaign has begun in memory of the Swansea man people knew as ‘Tea Cosy Pete’.

Sometimes referred to simply as “Teabag” because of the distinctive, large woolly hat he wore on his head, he was taken to hospital on Monday but later died.

It is thought Tea Cosy Pete suffered a stroke. He was believed to have been in his mid-60s. Paramedics attended to him after he collapsed in the city centre’s Castle Square, a place he had frequented for decades.

When he hit the headlines for his honesty

Tea Cosy Pete hit the headlines in the 1990s after walking to Kittle in Gower from the centre of Swansea, where he had discovered a wallet with an address on a driving licence contained inside it. The wallet had around £300 in cash inside. Tea Cosy Pete is said to have refused a £100 reward from the grateful owner.

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “At approximately 9.30am on Monday, January 26, we were called to reports a man had collapsed on Castle Square in Swansea. We responded with an emergency ambulance and the man was taken to Morriston Hospital.”

A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “His death has been reported by the hospital to HM Coroner and a postmortem has been arranged.”

Tea Cosy Pete walked the streets of Swansea for years, often picking up rubbish and taking it to recycling bins. Little is known of his history but many have taken to social media talking of friendly chats they had with him.

A Just Giving page has also been set up in Tea Cosy Pete's name while others have asked well-wishers to contact Swansea Council with contributions towards a "decent" funeral for him.

"A man who had next to nothing"

The donation page reads: I set up this page to remember Pete by raising money for Shelter Cymru.

"Even if this page only gets a few quid for the homeless in Wales, at least it will have been donated on behalf of Teacosy Pete, a man who had next to nothing. "

Tributes to Tea Bag Pete have flooded in on social media

One read: “He knew Swansea like his back pocket – he was always gentle and had philosophical outlook on life, rejecting any sort of materialism.

“He repeatedly stated his lifestyle was by choice, he would not be persuaded to talk to any form of housing assistance – now he is in a better place, RIP Pete.”

Tea Cosy Pete T-shirts have been made and songs about him released on the internet,

The Just Giving page can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/teacosypete/