A SEA of red greeted dozens of mourners as they paid their final tributes to “brilliant dad” Chris Hawker yesterday.

The dad-of-two and stepfather-of-two died in a car crash on the A48 near Minsterworth last month.

Around 150 family and friends crammed into Gloucester Crematorium as Chris’s coffin, draped in the flag of his beloved Manchester United, was carried in to the sound of football song Vindaloo by Fat Les.

Mourners also wore Manchester United shirts with ‘Hawker’ on the back as a tribute to the 29-year-old football fan, from Kingsway, Gloucester.

His wife, Tracy Hawker, 38, read out a moving tribute to her husband during the service.

She said: “Chris was a loving husband who always tried to make me happy even if we didn’t have much money.

“His sons Ethan and Tyler meant the world to him. I find it hard to think that he won’t come home again.

“But he will never be forgotten, he will always live on in his boys.”

Chris, who was born in Cheltenham, had two sons, Ethan, nine, and Tyler, six, from a previous relationship, a step daughter Natasha, 15, and step son Nathan, 13.

Natasha, also read a tribute to Chris, who worked as a support worker for people with learning disabilities and had started work at a care home in Lydney.

She said: “We had a serious love hate relationship.

“He would tease me because he knew it would wind me up and would always be asking the time because he said it was past my bed time.

“But, we also had some great times, he hated Twilight but he came to watch every film with me.

“He was the best step-dad anyone could ask for.”

Friends also read their own tributes to Chris and some of his favourite songs were played including Take on Me by A-ha and Westlife’s Flying Without Wings and I’ll See You Again.

Chris died at the scene of the crash, which happened near the Severn Bore pub at Minsterworth at 7am on Thursday August 26. His green Vauxhall Vectra left the road, travelling towards Lydney from Gloucester, before hitting a fence.