Lynch family hopes inquest ends “fictitious and cruel rumours"

Thursday 27 October 2016

The family of a 20-year-old Jerseyman who died on his way home after a Christmas party last year, but was not found until eight months later, say they hope his inquest will put an end to the, "...fictitious and cruel rumours that circulated about him and how he went missing."

Adrian Lynch had been to a works do at the Merton hotel in December last year and caught a taxi back to near where he lived in St Mary, but decided to walk the remaining short distance to his home.

Despite Jersey Police conducting one of the biggest ever searches in their history no sign of Mr Lynch was found until eight months later when workers discovered a body in nearby Handois Reservoir.

An inquest officially declared that it was likely under the influence of alcohol Mr Lynch had become disorientated and fell or stumbled into the reservoir, but that it's likely the full story would never be known. It was clear that no third party had been involved and the cause of death was not suspicious.

In a press release Adrian’s father and stepmother, Danny and Sharon Lynch said:  “Re-living this day after day has been insufferable, but now that the inquest into our son’s death is complete, we hope to gain some sort of momentum and move forward. Living without Adrian is hard, and not something we will ever fully accept or get used to, but we know where he is now and that brings some comfort to us after enduring eight months of torture.

We feel that Ady’s dignity is now restored and the events surrounding his disappearance have been established firmly enough to know that it was just an unfortunate and inexplicable accident. We truly believe this after having had all of the information to hand.

Now that the cause of Ady’s death has been substantiated as accidental, we hope the fictitious and cruel rumours that circulated about him and how he went missing can be laid to rest also. None of this idle gossip was true but it was all very hurtful to those closest to Ady.

Ady will never be forgotten, he’ll live forever in our hearts and in the hearts of those that knew him. His future was looking bright and he will always be remembered for being a decent, funny, caring, hardworking, fun loving young man. He had so much to live for. The warmth and laughter he brought into our home will be sorely missed.

We can now put an end to this whole ordeal and keep Ady alive through the cherished memories we have of him.

To end, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our family and friends that have been there to support us through this awful ordeal, and who continue to support and be there for us. It’s hard to show just how much we appreciate all of you, but we do. Thank you.”

And Adrian’s mum Mameal and his sister Alana had these words to say about him:
“Ady was the most caring and kind man anyone could know and he has left his mark on everyone who knew him. Anyone lucky enough to see the boy that Ady was and the man that he grew into will no-doubt realise that I was so happy to have been a part of my big brother’s life. Thank you to the community for coming together to help find him. Words can’t describe how overwhelmed my mum and I were with the love we received from everyone.”