A POPULAR scout leader suddenly died while watching The Lion King stage show in London.

Mark Brudenell, 47, from Southend, suffered a heart attack during a night-out at the theatre.

The chartered accountant was involved with various community groups, including the Southend Estuary Scouts and Thorpe Bay Rotary Club.

His dad Peter, 78, of Great Wakering, said: “He went to see The Lion King stage show with work colleagues and one of them thought he’d fallen asleep and then they realised something was not right.

“They tried CPR, but it did not work, he had sadly gone.

“There was nothing that could have been done. Police were then banging on our door in the early hours of Saturday.

“He had never had a history of heart attacks or anything, he had mildly high blood pressure but he took medication for it.

“It is just so out of the blue and is such a shock to us all, the whole family is devastated.

“He was not married and did not have any children.

“He was with the scouts from the age of eight-years-old. He was also the vice chairman of the Thorpe Bay Rotary Club and he did the accounts for the rotary club and the Southend Estuary Scouts group.”

Mark studied at Westcliff High School for Boys and later attended the University of Essex where he studied accountancy and finance.

His dad added: “He went from there straight to Rickard Luckin where he was a chartered accountant. We are keeping ourselves busy and are going through all his possessions and things.”

Janis Osborne, managing director at Rickard Luckin posted on the firm’s website: “An associate at the firm’s Southend office, Mark had been with the firm for over 26 years and will be sorely missed by his colleagues, friends and clients alike. Our deepest condolences go out to Mark’s family and friends.”

Southend Estuary Scouts posted online: “A scouting friend was with him at the time and the family asked us to let our district know this awfully sad news. This is very sudden and unexpected.”