News journalist from Northern Ireland Brian Hutton dies aged just 46

Mr Hutton had written for the Irish Times, the Belfast Telegraph, and for years was a Dublin-based news editor at the Press Association (PA) – a worldwide agency which sells its copy to countless publications, the News Letter included.

David Young, the current Ireland editor at PA, wrote on Twitter: “A great journalist and a great man. Proud to have counted Brian as a friend and colleague. Gone too soon.”

The Irish Times appears to have been the outlet which broke the news, reporting late on Sunday night that the Londonderry man had died suddenly the previous day, “after becoming unwell”.

Former Ireland editor of the PA, Deric Henderson, was quoted calling Mr Hutton “hugely gifted”.

He said: “He went about his business quietly, free of drama or any fuss, and never failed to meet a deadline, no matter how tight.

“He had a lovely manner and that’s probably why he was so good at his job. He got on well with people. They liked him.”

The report says he was educated at St Columb’s College in his native city, and began his career at the Belfast Telegraph in 2003.

The editor of The Irish Times, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, said Mr Hutton was “a superb journalist whose sharp news instinct, observational skill and natural curiosity meant his byline invariably appeared on the biggest and most important stories” – added to which “he was also great company: warm, open, interested in other people”.

The northern editor of The Irish Times, Freya McClements, said he was “the best of journalists, the best of friends and the best of men”:

“In the last week alone Brian featured prominently in reports of the release of the State papers and it is fitting that his byline was above another article in the paper on the day he died.

“As a journalist, Brian was curious, quick-witted and with a keen news sense; he was also warm and genuine.

“Above all, he was a devoted father to his daughter Issy.”

In an article published on November 5th, Mr Hutton returned to Creeslough a month after tragedy struck the town. It opened with these words: “Travelling on the main road to Creeslough, one passes through The Gap. A winding, remote road hewn between the peaks of Stragraddy and Crockmore, a grand portal of rock and bog into another world.

“For the many in the past lucky enough to visit, this was a different world of carefree holidays or day trips to one of the island’s more stunning corners. Now, it is a different world for those who call Creeslough home, too.”

Other copy filed just in the past week included this piece in the Irish Times: “A voting majority for Catholics in the North would not happen until after 2050 because their higher fertility rate was gradually falling to the UK norm, British officials told their Irish counterparts during a secret briefing.

"Two years after the 1991 census, Department of Foreign Affairs officials called a meeting with their British opposites to discuss the results amid a welter of media coverage about the rising number of Catholics and how it might impact on any push for a united Ireland.”