A MAN has been charged after his elderly dad died at home in suspicious circumstances.

Neighbours have named the man as Roy Green, who was in his 70s.

Mr Green was found with a head injury at his house in Railway Approach, Laindon, on Saturday.

Police later arrested his son Maurice, who lives with him, as part of their investigation.

Paramedics were called to the home at about 10.20am, but were unable to revive Mr Green. He was later declared dead at the scene.

Officers then taped off the house while scenes of crime officers trawled through the rooms for evidence.

SHOCKED neighbours remembered Roy Green as a generous, friendly, kind and sociable man who “liked a pint and a fag”.

Douglas Curtis, 75, had known him for about 50 years as they both moved into the street in the Sixties.

He said: “He was a marvellous old boy. He wouldn’t do anyone any harm.

“He liked his pint and his fag and would always go to the Moon on the Square pub. He always used to come around, and if he was waiting at the bus stop, I’d run him into Basildon. That’s how friendly we were.”

He said the former bricklayer had suffered a heart attack in the past, but didn’t let it hold him back and would still get the bus into town every day.

Mr Curtis added: “He had a heart attack about a year ago, but he wouldn’t have his stents put in. He discharged himself from hospital.

“It’s such a great shame because he was such a brilliant bloke. I was just writing the Christmas cards that morning and I’d just got to his name. It’ll take some getting used to.”

Mr Green’s wife, June, died several years ago and he had two sons and a grandson.

Neil Cogdell, 35, said Mr Green had been extremely welcoming when he moved into the street eight years ago.

He said: “He was the sort of guy you want living in the street. He was just a nice genuine person. He would always say hello and have a chat when you walked the dog.”

Melissa Taylor, 34, said the death had left her “choked up” because Mr Green was such a kind person who would offer people vegetables from his garden.

She added: “He was a genuinely nice, old-fashioned boy. When he grew his rhubarb and his vegetables, he would come round and give us some of them.”

A neighbour in her mid-forties, who asked not to be named, said: “He was a quiet man, very pleasant, and it’s really sad. He will be missed.”

Another woman, in her seventies, said: “He was so easy going, never interfered with anybody.

“All he lived for was his pint and his fag. He spoke to everybody, he was just an inoffensive man.”