The mother of the Byron Bay shark attack victim says her son died doing something he loved.
Paul Wilcox, 50, bled to death after he was mauled by a shark, possibly a great white, while swimming about 15 metres off Clarkes Beach on the NSW far north coast.
He was bitten on the right leg and despite the efforts of onlooker Mark Hickey, who ran into the bloody water and risked his own life to help Mr Wilcox, he could not be saved.
His wife was on the beach as the attack played out before her.
Mr Wilcox's parents Marie and Bryan, who live in north Wales, said they spoke to their son shortly before he went on his regular morning swim.
"I absolutely adored him and I want people to know that," his mother told the BBC.
She said it was a blessing that he'd had a quick death.
"He died doing what he wanted to do ... it's not as though somebody attacked him in the street. It's not as though he was shot in Afghanistan, which mothers have had to go through.
"I had a happy, well-adjusted, lovely, lovely son talking to me the day before - 24 hours later he's dead and I still can't take it in."
Mr Wilcox left Britain more than 20 years ago and lived in Sydney for a time but had only just moved to Byron Bay, media reports said.
