I’m A Celeb finalist Richard Coles shares emotional post in tribute to partner five years after his tragic death

REVEREND Richard Coles posted an emotional tribute to his late husband five years after his tragic death.

The 62-year-old marked what would have been Rev David Coles' 48th birthday on December 10.

The couple were together for 12 years before David's death in 2019.

Fresh out of the I'm A Celebrity jungle, Richard returned to social media to share a new picture of David.

In it, his late husband has a face mask on and is standing in front of their four dogs.

Richard wrote in the post: "David’s birthday today. He would have been forty eight. RIP."

Richard and his late partner Rev David Coles, a Church of England vicar, were in a a civil partnership.

David died from alcoholic liver disease aged 43.

Richard opened up about his loss on I'm A Celebrity during a heart to heart with his campmate Oti Mabuse.

He cried: "I miss him. I want him to walk in the door. I had a dream that he walked in the door and he was carrying a co-op bag.

"I said to him 'I thought you were dead' and he said, 'oh no, I was just out shopping'.

"I said, 'well it's nice to see you' and he said 'I'm not stopping, I've met someone else'."

"It's a massive hole in my life. I'm living my life around that loss and I've met Dickie now and that's great. We're building a relationship together, but I just miss David."

Writing about David -who died from alcoholism - in an extract from his book The Madness Of Grief: A Memoir Of Love And Loss, Richard, said: "It was really, really tough to see somebody you love destroy himself.

"It is like someone is drowning and you throw them a lifebelt but they are just not taking the lifebelt.

"And I did try everything I could think of to help him stop drinking, and in fairness to him he did try too, but it was too much for him."