Bob Wall, a married father-of-one, was an Esh company director and managing director of the specialist Deerness Fencing and Landscaping operation.

The JournalLive.co.uk reported that an inquest into the 51-year-old’s death is expected to be opened shortly, following his funeral at All Saints’ Church in Lanchester, County Durham.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) is linked to consuming contaminated beef and started a worldwide panic in the late 1980s and early 1990s following outbreaks of “mad cow disease”.

Only 171 people have died of CJD in Britain with only a handful of deaths each year following a peak in cases in 2000.

Deerness founder Michael Hogan told the Journal:  “I have known Bob for some 13 years and, how to give tribute to him, I just don’t know where to start.

“When he took up the managing director role of Deerness Fencing he improved the business I’d owned and ran for some 20 years beyond all expectations and we as Esh Group will be forever grateful to Bob for this.

“To the other managers and directors of the group I’m sure he was a role model they aspired to.

“As a friend he was very special to me, and I am very grateful for the time I shared with him.”