BBC naturalist and film maker Andrew Cooper, of Newton Abbot, has spoken of his family's devastation after the loss of their 33-year-old daughter to a mystery virus.

Julia Cooper, herself a leading wildlife expert and broadcaster in her adopted Australia, died in Brisbane on December 17.

She had become ill after a filming expedition to East Africa earlier in the year with her partner and fellow naturalist, Dr Martin Cohen.

Exhaustive tests failed to identify the exact nature of what was thought to have been a tropical disease.

Miss Cooper was born and raised in Newton Abbot, attending St Bernard's, St Joseph's and Stover schools.

Her father, and mother Jeanne, would take her and younger brother Charles on their global adventures and quickly discovered she had a passion for the subject.

Her BBC television debut was made aged just two.

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