Tributes as Leicester’s Manjula Sood – UK’s first female Asian lord mayor

Tributes have been paid after the death of a councillor who became the UK’s first female Asian lord mayor.

Manjula Sood, who was 80, was described as “a dedicated servant to the Leicester community”, having also served as assistant mayor and Labour councillor for the Stoneygate ward in the city.

According to her website, Ms Sood came to Leicester from India, where she had been studying for a PhD, in 1970, and completed her studies before becoming a primary school teacher for about 20 years.

She became the city’s first female Hindu councillor in October 1996, after winning a by-election triggered by her husband Paul’s death earlier that year.

Twelve years later, in May 2008, she became the UK’s and Leicester’s first…