A London youth worker has drowned after swimming out to sea and rescuing one of his sons while on a family holiday in Jamaica.
Tony Wilkinson, 49, was caught in a strong current and did not make it back to the shore after going to the assistance of the boy, who survived.
The tragic incident happened on Thursday morning after the family, who live in Kent, had been walking on the beach in Calabash Bay on Jamaica's south coast.
Mr Wilkinson, who was the partner of award-winning Guardian journalist Decca Aitkenhead, was employed as an outreach worker with Kids Company since 2009.
The charity supports young people in and around the capital, many of whom are affiliated with gangs.
His family said in a statement: "Tony Wilkinson and his partner Decca Aitkenhead were on holiday in a village on the south coast of Jamaica with their two sons, aged three and four.
"At 8.30 on Thursday morning one of their sons was paddling in the waves and got pulled out to sea. Tony swam out and rescued him.
"Decca swam out and brought their son to shore but the current was too strong for Tony to swim back, and despite the efforts of local fishermen who swam out to help, he drowned before they could get him back to shore."
Mr Wilkinson previously ran a home conversion business. He also founded and managed an east London organic deli.
He joined Kids Company, founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996, while studying psychology and criminology at the University of Westminster.
Ms Batmanghelidjh told the Times the organisation was in "a state of shock and mourning".
She said she was "not surprised at all" he had put his child’s life before his own.
She said: "I think that’s in keeping with his character. He was absolutely brilliant, fearless and brilliant."
Ms Aitkenhead won an Interviewer of the Year gong at the 2009 British Press Awards and has contributed to radio and television programmes.
In 2000, she wrote about her experiences living in a Jamaican fishing village for a year with a previous husband.
