TV medium Derek Acorah dies after ‘very brief illness’, aged 69

TV mystic Derek Acorah has died aged 69, his wife has said.

The self-styled spiritual medium, whose real name is Derek Johnson, appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2017 and launched the paranormal reality TV series Most Haunted in 2001.

His wife Gwen Acorah shared the news in a statement on his official Facebook page, adding that the psychic had been in intensive care after falling into a coma.

“Farewell my love! I will miss you forever! I’m devastated to announce that my beloved husband Derek has passed away after a very brief illness,” she wrote.

“Thank you so much to everybody who has supported me – I can never thank you enough.”

She suggested that her husband had been targeted by trolls before his death in the second part of her statement.

Acorah found fame as a spiritual medium and fronted Predictions With Derek Acorah early in his TV career.

He went on to appear in series 20 of Celebrity Big Brother, where he came fourth.

Born in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1950, Acorah featured in regular segments on 1996 TV show The Psychic Zone before becoming a contributor on spin-off show Psychic Livetime.

His own show, Predictions With Derek Acorah, where he would conduct readings with members of the public in their own homes, became a frontrunner for the genre of paranormal investigation programmes.

In 2001, Acorah joined Most Haunted when it launched and worked on the show for six series.

Some years later, he fronted Michael Jackson: The Live Seance, which saw the medium attempt to contact the singer's spirit.