AN award-winning reporter and editor who spent much of his successful career in Hampshire has died aged 72.

Steve Davies led newspapers across the region during his 40-year career, including working at the Southern Daily Echo for a period.

He was born in Newport, Wales, in 1949 and grew up in Burnley, Lancashire, where he attended the local grammar school. He was one of five siblings.

Best known for his dogged investigative and campaigning journalism, Steve's razor-sharp news sense and passion for holding power to account earned him many regional and national awards.

With a penchant for witty headlines and a love of the little details that brought stories to life, Steve had a strong belief in local journalism and its potential to change people’s lives for the better.

He worked at The News, in Portsmouth, in the late 1970s and it was while running the newspaper’s Gosport office that he met his wife Carole. He briefly left journalism to look after their first child before joining the weekly Southampton Advertiser.

He had a strong interest in social justice, and regularly exposed the shocking standards blighting Southampton’s housing market.

His ‘Open the Empties’ campaign – which called on the local council to bring vacant properties back into use – was particularly impactful.

During the 1990s he was one of the country’s most successful local journalists, establishing the Advertiser among the best weekly papers in the country and winning individual accolades including Provincial Journalist of the Year at the 1992 British Press Awards.

As well as hard-hitting exclusives, Steve loved the lighter side of local journalism, and had a flair for elaborate and convincing April Fool’s stories.

His most successful yarn was about plans to build a replica of the Statue of Liberty in the Solent.

The spoof included a four-page supplement, with advertisers and even Southampton Council in on the act, and was so convincing that it led to a free trip to New York, complimentary hotel accommodation and interviews with unsuspecting officials from the National Parks Service, who were convinced the plans were genuine.

Steve took the top job at the The Advertiser’s in 1989 before moving to the Southern Daily Echo, the Advertiser’s city rival, where he became investigations editor with a remit to bring in the biggest stories.

While doing this work an incident occurred that changed his life forever.

During an investigation into a gang of drug dealers, Steve’s home was attacked and his family threatened. Believing he could reason with them, he went to the shopping precinct where they operated only to be brutally assaulted. Further attacks followed and his family were forced to flee the area. His family say he never fully recovered from the psychological impact.

After leaving the Echo, Steve became the editor of the Basingstoke Observer, where he continued to be a thorn in the side of the establishment. He particularly enjoyed pushing junior reporters outside their comfort zone and challenging them to find underreported stories.

Steve was a proud Welshman who loved sport, including rugby, boxing and golf. He was a lifelong fan of Burnley Football Club. He is survived by his two children, Gareth and Evan.