Tributes paid by friends to Martyn Hett, who was killed in the Manchester attack

Friends have paid tribute to Martyn Hett, who is confirmed to have died in Monday's suicide attack in Manchester.

Martyn was attending the Ariana Grande concert with his friend Stuart Aspinall, when he left his seat toward the end of the show.

It has now been confirmed that Martyn is one of the casualties.

His ex-boyfriend Russell Hayward broke the news online, writing that Martyn "left the world exactly as he lived, centre of attention".

Russell said Martyn's family was informed of his death on Tuesday night.

"He's kind-of a local celebrity in Manchester," his friend Ian Pollitt told Newsbeat, before news of his death had been confirmed.

"Everyone knows him in the gay scene and he's been on TV. He's been on Come Dine With Me. He's such a big character, he's loved by everyone."

Martyn had previously made headlines when he launched a social media campaign to help his mum sell her homemade toys after no one bought any of her work at a local craft fair.

The story was covered in Buzzfeed and other online publications.

Martyn was due to fly to the US for a two month holiday today, two days after the attack.

"He'd saved up for about six months," said Ian.

Martyn had tweeted about his trip to the US on the morning of the terror attack.

He was excited about not being in work until August.

Friends of Martyn have been paying tribute to the 29-year-old PR manager on Twitter.

Liam said Martyn hadn't wasted "a day of your 29 years with us".

Daniel gave a nod to his popularity on Twitter as he wrote about how Martyn "made people he didn't even know smile every single day".

Paul was one of the strangers who Martyn made smile online.

Martyn had previously won an episode of Come Dine With Me with Russell, taking home £1,000 for his culinary skills.

He had also appeared on Channel 4's Tattoo Fixers, where he was inked with an image of Coronation Street's Deirdre Barlow.

"I regret nothing," Martyn said when he shared a photo of the tattoo on Twitter.

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