The children of a racing champion whose remains were found on a Norfolk nature reserve have paid emotional tributes to him.

Malcolm Goodman, a six times national title winning Grand Prix Midget racer, was last seen alive on September 26 2009 when he left his care home at Catfield, near Stalham.

His remains were found at Catfield Fen on June 23 and after extensive forensic test were finally identified on Monday.

The father of five lived in Dersingham, near King's Lynn from 1979 until the 1990s and ran a garage there.

He had ended up in the care home after he suffered a bad head injury in an accident during a scrambling bike race in Bristol.

Mr Goodman, who was from Yorkshire, had been English Hot Rod champion and won six national titles on the Grand Prix Midget circuit in the 1970s and 1980s.

He raced when the sport was becoming popular with motor racing fans across the country.

He could regularly seen battling off other racers in the tiny vehicles at tracks at Great Yarmouth, Swaffham and King's Lynn.

One if his Grand Prix Midget racing highlights was winning the Graham Hill Memorial Trophy in a his Cooper S powered ex-George Pollard car in 1982 at Bovingdon.

He was also east of England champion in 1983.

Yesterday one his three sons Simon Goodman, 35 and a window cleaner from Dersingham, remembered how his father loved racing and cars.

He said: 'He was always tinkering with his cars and loved taking us to races and he loved taking his dog for walk.

'My father was just a sort of happy go lucky bloke. What you saw is what you got with him.

'Racing cars was in his blood.'

After his head injuries Mr Goodman stayed in several care homes in Norfolk before ending up at Hamilton House care home in Catfield.

He had been known to go missing from the home before but had always returned within 24 hours.

His daughter Helen Jackson, 46, of Braintree in Essex, said: 'After the accident he always talked about going back to work, but obviously he could not.

'My father was stubborn and determined. But he was a very funny person and was a man of great character.'

Mr Goodman leaves three other children - Lisa, Justin and Craig.

Police are not treating his death as suspicious.