More than £5,000 has been raised to provide life-saving equipment to the community in the name of a much loved pub landlord who was murdered last week.

Scott Gilhooly sadly passed away on the morning of Sunday 17 May after being stabbed at the Swiss Bell pub in Mountbatten Road, Braintree, where he was the landlord.

Now a group has raised thousands in his memory to provide the community with defibrillators.

The Braintree fund, which was started by Andrew Hensman and the Archer Community Trust , has been on a mission to raise funds for good causes in the town.

Mr Gilhooly approached the fund as he was keen to fundraise for a defibrillator for the Fairview community which would be place near his Swiss Bell pub.

After his passing, it was Mr Gilhooly's family wish that the fund continue to fundraise, setting up a Just Giving page.

Organiser Aiden Kelly said: "Scott was a great supporter of the community and lots of local groups.

"Two days before his death we were were chatting about fundraising for a defibrillator to be installed outside the Swiss Bell for the community to access.

"I’ve been involved with the Braintree fund to raise money for more of these throughout the town.

"It was his family’s wish that we continue to fundraise."

The group's fundraising efforts have been a huge success, smashing their original goal of £3,500.

As of writing, residents have donated a whopping £5,170.

The Archer Community Trust Secretary, Karen Brown, added: "Following two incidents within Braintree that may have had a better outcome if publicly accessible defibrillators had been available, one of our Trustees, Andrew Hensman, created The Braintree Fund within our organisation.

"He researched and found there were none available in the town at that time, some organisations had devices for use within their buildings, but none that were accessible at any time by anybody via the Ambulance Service.

"The Braintree Fund fundraises for any good cause within Braintree, and started with providing defibrillators within the town.

"A generous donation from CSS allowed two to be installed on their town centre buildings, and we raised money ourselves to put one on the charity premises in East Street.

"These machines aren’t a “fit and forget” facility, they need regular maintenance, consumables have strict use by dates, and of course, need replacing every time they are used.

"We initially were approached by Scott Gilhooly as he was keen to fundraise for a defibrillator for the Fairview community, to be placed on, or near to, The Swiss Bell.

"Scott was widely known as a true community champion, involved in many projects within the area.

"On learning the tragic news, we all then vowed to continue with his wishes as a fitting memorial.

"Local resident, Aidan Kelly, kindly started a Just Giving page in his memory, effectively creating a book of condolence alongside contributions from family, friends and residents.

"We would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this fundraising effort, although we’ve reached our target for one defibrillator, the family have requested that we keep the page open to help other areas within Braintree.

"As a charity we’d like to take this opportunity to offer condolences to the family of Scott Gilhooly, he will be greatly missed by many."

It is now the group's intention to add to the existing four defibrillators to form a network throughout the town.

To donate, you can visit bit.ly/RememberingScott.