Veteran Bermuda lawyer Keiron Unwin died in the United Kingdom on Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 56.

Mr. Unwin was a barrister and attorney in Bermuda for 25 years and was the lawyer for and The Mid-Ocean News for much of that time.

He first joined Peter Smith?s chambers and later worked for Mello Jones and Martin and Ann Cartwright DeCouto before joining Wakefield Quin.

?Kieron was a very fine courtroom lawyer who represented and the Mid-Ocean News for more than 20 years,? said Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill. ?Media law is a relatively specialised area and we were fortunate to have Keiron as the newspapers? primary legal advisor in a number of prominent libel actions. He could always be relied on for sound advice on both legal and practical grounds.

?We have been very concerned for him since he fell ill and offer his family and many friends our deepest condolences.?

Former Editor David L. White said: ?He was very good for the newspapers in that he specialised in our legal needs. There was a time when the papers were being severely harassed and Keiron Unwin was instrumental in getting us through a very difficult period.?

Former Mid-Ocean News Editor Gavin Shorto, whom Mr. Unwin defended in a libel case brought by then-Senior Magistrate Richard Hector, said: ?Keiron was a quiet, intelligent man who was a very good lawyer indeed. Although he was led in the Hector case by a London QC who specialised in libel, I thought he would have given an extremely good account of himself if he had handled it on his own.

?I worked with him quite a lot when I was at the Mid-Ocean News, and I thought he was an outstanding adviser for an editor to have. He had conservative views about newspapers publishing material that had the potential to damage people or organisations. If your story wasn?t obviously in the public interest, you?d get no sympathy from him.

?He could be scathing if he felt you were asking him a question whose answer you ought to know yourself, or if he felt you were trying to get him to tell you how to publish a story that wasn?t justifiable. So he could be tough to deal with, but he did understand that it was part of a newspaper?s job to make sure that dishonesty and irresponsibility weren?t hidden behind libel laws.?

Mr. Shorto added: ?If he felt you were right in what you were trying to do, he would support you wholeheartedly. That?s as good as it gets!?

Mr. Unwin will be cremated in Exeter, England on Friday, March 11. A service of thanksgiving will be held the following day at Ashton Church, Near Exeter, Devon at 10 a.m.

The family had requested that no flowers be sent, but donations can be made to the RNLI or Cancer Research UK by retiring collection or may be sent to Le-Roy Funeral Service,10 Alphington Road, Exeter EX2 8HH, Telephone 011-44-1392-255535.

Mr. Unwin leaves his wife Janet, sons Andy and Francis and his brother Tony. A memorial service will be held in Bermuda in September.