TORFAEN council is to pay for the burial of a popular Pontypool man found dead on the roadside in Pontnewynydd.

John Reeder, 63, from Pontnewynydd, was found lying face-down on the A4043 near George Street at 6am on August 7.

He was taken to Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital with serious head injuries but later died.

An inquest on August 23 concluded that he died from “blunt trauma to the head”, and four people have been charged with manslaughter.

The council is organising Mr Reeder's burial, which will take place on December 10 at 1.30pm at the council’s cemetery at Hollybush, Cwmbran, after police were unable to track down Mr Reeder’s family. Originally from Yorkshire, Mr Reeder has lived at Tan-y-Coed, Pontnewynydd, for six years.

A group was set up in his memory on social networking site Facebook, and 2,896 people had liked it and more than 130 messages had been left. Mr Reeder was a regular at Wetherspoon’s, Pontypool, and The Pegasus, Pontnewynydd, while many people also knew him through his love of horses and riding around on his mountain bike.

One person posted said: “RIP John, what a sad death to a man who was so gentle”, while another commented: “John had a heart of gold.”