FAMILY and friends of a Wirral man who died while diving in north Wales have paid tribute.

Jason Dean, 31, failed to surface during a routine dive at the flooded former Dorothea slate quarry at Penygroes, Caernarfon, at about 11.30am on Saturday.

The body of the civil engineer, who worked in Liverpool, was found at 4.30pm on Sunday. He was the seventh person to lose his life there in the past two years and the 21st in the last decade.

Mr Dean, of Earlston Road, Wallasey, was one of a group of five divers from Wirral who told other divers at the quarry they planned a dive to about 30-35 metres.

His heartbroken girlfriend Hayley, 27, a solicitor, today paid tribute to Mr Dean's adventurous spirit.

She said: "Jason was a free spirit who was adored by everybody who knew him. He died as he lived his life, always on the go, full of energy and adventure.

"He was a wonderful partner and friend. He touched so many lives and enhanced them."

His mother, Jeanette, and father Billy said that he was a level-headed young man at the start of life's journey.

They added: "He was a giver, never a taker. He loved life. His curiosity to see and explore made him the man he was and how we will always remember him.

"He was just on the thresh-hold of his life with Hayley, the love of his life. He was respected and admired by everyone he met."