The devastated parents of a Warwickshire tennis coach who was shot dead alongside his friend in a rundown Florida street have described their son as a gentle, kind and compassionate man whose "humour filled every space".

James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were gunned down in the early hours of Saturday in a crime-ridden part of the Gulf Coast state described by police as a "no-go" area for tourists.

Mr Cooper's parents Stanley and Sandra, from Hampton Lucy, near Warwick, had been on holiday with the two young men, staying in an upmarket area of Sarasota.

In a statement released through Warwickshire Police, the couple said: "As his parents, our lives have been shattered, but through us and his friends and family he will live on.

"God bless you, son, heaven has another angel, but this world is a colder and poorer place without you in it."

Mr and Mrs Cooper spoke of their pride in their only son, who worked as a tennis coach in Warwickshire and once played Andy Murray in a junior tournament.

They added: "We loved our son and he loved us so strongly. We are blessed and so very proud to have him as our boy. "A day never passed without telling each other 'I love you'.

"He was gentle, kind, compassionate, clever and an athlete; but beyond all his achievements he was full of love.

"Always the man to keep his friends from childhood to university to work, together.

"His laugh, his voice, his humour filled every space. In his short life he lived it to the full and helped everyone lucky enough to know him to do the same."