Rugby councillor Jim McLaughlin and his wife liked their holiday on Gibraltar so much they never came back.

The couple have sold their home in Wolston and have set up a new home on the Rock.

Jim, a lecturer at Tile Hill College, Coventry, took his wife Carol to Gibraltar for a break last month and telephoned friends to say they would not be coming back.

He resigned his college post and retired from politics with 12 months still to serve as councillor for Rugby’s Overslade Ward. A by-election will be held to fill his seat.

A colleague at the college, where Jim lectured in the engineering department, said:

"He and his wife suffered from ill-health. Jim had a heart attack which kept him off work for twelve months and while he was off his wife suffered a brain haemorrhage."