Simon Thomas has announced the death of his father-in-law just one year after losing his wife Gemma to cancer.

This morning Norfolk-born ex-Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas announced that his father-in-law had died from cancer.

In a post on social media, Mr Thomas said: 'Life can feel very cruel. Last night Gemma's dad's life reached its end as Myeloma took its final toll.'

'It's devastating for Rebecca who in fourteen months has lost half of her family to blood cancer and heartbreaking for Ethan who only a month ago said 'why do I keep losing everything I love?'

'Now he's lost the man with whom he had the most special of relationships – the man he called 'Pompa'.'

The news comes just over a year after Mr Thomas lost his wife Gemma, who was 40, to acute myeloid leukaemia, leaving him as single parent to their son Ethan.

In the Instagram post announcing his loss, Mr Thomas also shared some photographs of his son Ethan kissing his grandfather on the cheek and cuddling up to him, as well as a photo of his late wife Gemma with her father.

Since Gemma's death, Mr Thomas has spoken publicly about grief and his experience of single parenting on social media.

Speaking last year, he said: 'That hole that a loved one leaves doesn't shrink over time. Life begins to grow around it.

'You begin to deal with some of the challenges grief throws up, being a single parent throws up.

'I've got two choices. Give up - I can't do that, I don't want to do that, I've got a boy to bring up, I promised Gemma ... Right from the start I felt I've got to find life again.'

In November he opened up about being in the early stages of a new relationship with a woman who he says has been 'an incredible support' to him.

Last year he was also named as one of the UK's top male role models by men's media brand The Book of Man for his open discussions of grief and single parenting.