THE daughter of a well-known gym owner has told of her heartbreak at losing ‘the best dad anyone could have ever wished for’.

Ashley Coupe, 21, had only spent two days with her beloved father Michael Coupe, 50, after returning to Burnley from her adopted home of Australia for her grandmother’s funeral when he died suddenly.

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Ashley, a trainee scuba diving instructor, had not seen her dad, who owned Fitness Factory gym, since she was last able to visit in 2007.

She had emigrated from Burnley with her mother Lindsay Hughes at the age of seven, but continued to speak to her dad every day over the phone because she ‘missed him so much’.

Ashley said: “I had spent two lovely days with my dad.

“He picked me up from the airport, late, as usual, and I cried so much when I saw him.

“He took me to do lots of his favourite things, going shopping and going for a drive and laughing and joking together, I was so happy to be with him.

“He was the best dad anyone could ever have wished for.

“I came over to say goodbye to my grandma. I was planning to move back to Burnley permanently to be with my dad next year, I thought soon I wouldn’t have to miss him anymore.

“We stayed up watching TV in the living room on Wednesday night, but then my granddad told me to go to bed because it was late.

“I didn’t want to leave my dad, but I thought I would see him in the morning, so I gave him a hug and told him I loved him and went to bed.

“But when I woke up the next day, I heard my dad’s partner Sam freaking out and saying call the ambulance.

“Then the paramedics, police and coroner came and took him away. It just seems so unfair.”

Michael passed away on Thursday, September 25. The cause of his death is not yet known.

Ashley read out the speech her father was going to give at her grandmother, Elsie Coupe-Tenant’s, funeral and said she will finish her diving training in honour of her dad, who had always wanted to do the training but never got the chance.

Michael’s fiancee, Sam Metcalfe, of Fairways Drive, Burnley, said: “He was such a kind and generous man.

“To everybody in the family, he was our big, cuddly bear.”

Michael also leaves his son Benjamin, step-daughter Jody, sisters Anita and Jennifer, and brother Christopher.