FAMILY OF JOHN MURPHY TOLD THEY WILL NEVER LEARN HOW HE DIED

FAMILY OF JOHN MURPHY TOLD THEY WILL NEVER LEARN HOW HE DIED

The family of a dad-of-five have been told they will never learn for sure how he came to die at a beauty spot.

John Murphy, 52, was formally identified last week, 11 months after he first disappeared.

But investigators have no idea how the body of the gardener from Glasgow came to be in a country park near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.

Mr Murphy’s son, also John, 25, confirmed however that investigators concluded his father’s death was not suspicious.

He said: “The police ruled out foul play pretty quickly. There were no signs of violence or anything that could have been used to hurt him.

“That was a relief because we know that nice people can suffer this way. But we still don’t know what happened to him and we are never going to know.

“His death was unascertainable. But based on what they have told us, we think he has taken ill.”

Mr Murphy’s family had hoped that he become unwell and wandered off after he was reported missing in May last year.

He was receiving treatment for angina and had feared he had suffered a heart attack, ultimately a false alarm, shortly before he disappeared.

John said: “We always believed we would find him alive. We always thought we would find him out there.

“That is what kept us going; that and the number of people who were ready to help us.

“The only thing we could think of was that he had some kind of breakdown or memory loss. He had been in a hospital before he was missing.

“He was given some heart medicine and had got a real fright.

“But we will never know how he ended up in the park. As far as we know he did not know the area at all. The police say they will never know how he got there.

“The only thing is that you can get a bus from Duke Street that pretty much takes you out there. But we don’t know if he took a bus there.”

Mr Murphy – who would have turned 53 last week – leaves behind four other children Kelly, 26, Liam, 18, Shannon, 15, Dylan, 13, and wife Patricia, 49.

John added: “He was also so happy. He was a really quiet man, really private. He loved his family, his club, Celtic and Pink Floyd.

“He was so loyal to his family and his friends, he had gone to Parkhead with the same pals for nearly 40 years.

“When I think of him when I was younger I always remember the times he was so happy, when my younger brothers and sisters were born or even when Celtic stopped Rangers winning 10-in-a-row.

“He was over the moon on all those occasions. He just loved us so much.”

A funeral mass for Mr Murphy will be held on Friday.

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