TRIBUTES have been paid to a TV chef who has been killed in a motorcycle accident yards from his home.

Shaun Gilmore was fatally injured when he lost control of his gold Honda ST 1,100 motorcycle in South Wonston.

Shaun, 38, was head chef at the award-winning National Dining Rooms and National Café in London's National Gallery. He was an expert screen cook on BBC's Celebrity Chef programme.

BBC managers confirmed the episode in which he features will be broadcast in July and will be dedicated to his memory.

His colleague and friend Yossi Edri said he had started up and run restaurants at five-star hotels around the world during his career.

Said Yossi: "Shaun was the best. He was not just a chef for me, but a close friend and mentor. He was a guy who listened to everyone - waitress or barman - and sorted our problems out. Now we are like a car without an engine. He is irreplaceable to me . . . like family."

Shaun was travelling home from work on Thursday March 6 when the accident happened at the junction of Downs Road and West Hill Road North.

Police say he came off his bike, slid across the road and crashed into a kerb and road sign. He was only 100 yards from his home in Waverley Drive where he lived with his wife Susan. The couple have a nine-month-old son, Harry.

Flowers have been left at the crash scene.

Ian Hoult, a senior officer at Hampshire County Council who lives nearby, heard the crash and was one of the first on the scene. He dialled 999 for an ambulance.

Mr Hoult said: "My wife Pauline came out with a blanket and felt for his pulse but there was none. He had suffered severe head injuries. There was nothing that could be done."

Helmet puzzle Two ambulances arrived and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Police are appealing for witnesses who saw Mr Gilmore or his gold-coloured motorcycle before the crash.

They are puzzled by the loss of his dark full-faced helmet. Friends and family say he never rode his motorbike without a helmet but it was not found at the crash scene despite a search of the area, including nearby gardens.

Acting Sergeant Nick Oliver said: "Anyone who has found or recovered such a motorcycle helmet is asked to contact the police urgently."

Mr Gilmore, who had lived in South Wonston for two years, commuted to work by train, motorcycling from home to Winchester railway station.

He is believed to have left the railway station on the night of the crash at about 12.45am.

During his career, Mr Gilmore worked at the Dorchester in London before being appointed head chef at Vong London in 1998. He was executive chef at Nobu in Shanghai, Taj Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur in India and Taj Exotica Resort and Spa in Mauritius. He returned to London in 2005 where he started up and ran several restaurants before joining National Dining Rooms as head chef.

Last October Time Out magazine hailed Mr Gilmore by naming the National Dining Rooms as Best British Restaurant.

Anyone with information about the accident at 1am on March 6 can contact Cosham police on 0845 045 4545 quoting Operation Martindale.