Family pay tribute to well-known Ross resident as officers renew appeal

The family of a fondly remembered Ross-on-Wye man who sadly died in Broad Street last month have today paid tribute to the caring, charismatic and creative father.

David Axon, 74, is believed to have been involved in an accident on Copse Cross Street in Ross on Thursday 17 July when he moved out of the way as a car mounted the pavement while driving down the road, causing him to stumble and trip.

A week later, on Thursday 24 July, officers were later called to Broad Street where David was suffering a medical episode. Sadly, despite the best efforts of emergency services he was pronounced dead at the scene.

David’s family have today (Monday 18 August) paid a personal tribute to the proud dad as West Mercia Police renews its appeal for witnesses to come forward following his passing.

In a statement his family said: “David was a proud father to daughters Emily and Sophie, and stepson, Janek.

“His sad passing is an irreplaceable loss to his family and the local community, where his kind and familiar presence around Ross-on-Wye will be fondly remembered.

“He was caring, charismatic, creative and curious, and will be dearly missed by many.”

Officers are still seeking to establish whether David fell the week before his death when avoiding a car and are asking for the public’s help in their investigation.

Detective Inspector Ben Pearson said: “We hope David’s family’s warm tribute to a well-known and popular man in Ross-on-Wye will support our efforts to establish how he came to harm.

“We remain keen to speak to anyone who travelled down Copse Cross Street on 17 July, or was in that area who may have witnessed such an incident happen.

“We would like to reiterate we do not believe the car mounted the pavement with intent to harm David. The street is incredibly narrow which causes drivers to often need to mount the pavement to drive down there.

“We are simply keen to understand if the incident that happened a week before may have caused him to fall the following Thursday and repeat our appeal for any witnesses to come forward.

“Please also note that at the time of the incident David may have had more facial hair than in this picture.

“We would also encourage the driver of the car to contact officers to help us get a better understanding of what happened.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact DI Pearson by calling 01432 347277 quoting incident number 334i of July 24, 2025.