A Dr Who fan sent his friends into fits of laughter at his funeral - when he was buried in a Tardis.

Tim Haws, of Brighton, was a life-long fan of the classic cult TV show until his death aged 43.

His family paid tribute to him and his sense of humour by turning a closet, shaped like the Timelord's time machine, into a coffin.

Tim's friends had no idea about the fitting send off until his coffin was carried into St George's Church for the service in Hurstpierpoint last Tuesday.

Tim was a talented artist, cartoonist and puppet-maker who started out as a pavement artist in Churchill Square and later designed Sussex pub signs and Star Trek characters for the Palace Pier.

He died after battling with cancer for three years.

His coffin was originally meant to be a wardrobe.

Tim's brother-in-law, Peter Brooker, 46, of College Lane, Hurstpierpoint, had been making it for Tim's bedroom. The ward-robe was based on the blue police box which transported Dr Who through space and time to save the universe from Daleks and Cybermen.

His sister Sarah, 41, of College Lane, said: "When he died suddenly I said, Now he won't get his Tardis ward-robe'. Then my mum said, He could always have a Tardis coffin'.

"When we got home we started thinking seriously about it and decided it would be totally fitting.

"It has helped relieve some of the pain because when people phoned up after they heard he had died and we said we were burying him in a Tardis they thought it was fantastic.

"Some of Tim's friends didn't know about it so when the coffin came into the church they just fell around laughing."

She said her brother would have been laughing his head off if he could have seen the service.

The sight of a Tardis travelling in the back of a hearse made a few heads turn and Sarah said the vicar was a little taken aback at the unusual request.

Tim had been a fan of the TV show first aired in 1963.

Sarah remembers knitting her brother a scarf when she was younger like the one worn by Tom Baker in the show.

She said: "Dr Who has always been part of our lives. I knitted this scarf for Tim and it was about eight inches wide at one end and two feet wide at the other.

"But he loved it and kept it for ages."

Tim's family are raising money for the Howard 1 Ward at the Royal Sussex County Hospital where Tim was a patient.

They hope to buy the ward a new fridge to store chemotherapy drugs.

Any donations should be sent to P&S Gallagher, Fraser House, Triangle Road, Haywards Heath.