Hampshire family launches urgent appeal to bring father home after Thailand bike crash

A grief-stricken family from Hampshire is trying to get the body of their father back home after learning he died in a motorcycle accident in Thailand.

Anthony Murphy lay dead in a hospital morgue for five days before he officials discovered his real name. At the time he was registered as John Doe, a name used when the true name of a person is unknown.

The Fareham-based family told the online southeast coast online platform Portsmouth.co.uk that the 61 year old died in a motorbike accident in Hua Hin, Thailand, adding no details of the crash have been made known to them by the Thai authorities and it remains a mystery.

The former gardener and landscape worker had been making annual trips to the Kingdom of Thailand for the past ten years and was expected to return home on January 24. However, he was involved in an accident on January 10 and was declared dead at the scene.

The family only found out about his passing five days after his death, on January 15.

Tony Murphy, the son of the deceased, said he would check activity on WhatsApp to determine when he was active but added that he had been inactive for several days.

The 43 year old said…

“He goes over there in the winter for three months usually because he can’t stand the cold. That’s what he used to say.

“We are always in contact with him and hadn’t heard anything. We are always checking to see if he had been on WhatsApp and he hadn’t this time, and it was quite a few days, so we began worrying.”

On January 15, Tony, his brother Glen and their two sisters, Tara and Lorraine, learned about their father’s death through a stranger’s chance discovery.

The stranger, visiting a friend involved in the same accident, discovered that their father was listed as a John Doe because he had no identification on him.

The stranger obtained Tony’s phone and found only one contact saved, a friend in London, whom he called to inform the family of the tragic news.

In their search for their father, the Murphy family reached out to the Thai embassy but were unable to determine the location of Anthony’s body.

The Murphy family then set out to find the nearest temples near the accident scene and, after checking maps and making numerous calls, were finally able to locate their father.

Tony said…

“We got the call on Sunday, we didn’t know how the accident happened, and we have no information so I rang the embassy on Monday and it was difficult to get anything out of them, but I spoke to them to try and get him back but they didn’t know where he was.

“We were trying to work out where he was because no one knew where he was and we got information that he was at a temple.

“It was so horrible knowing nothing and we were all just trying and trying and trying.’

Having successfully located their father, the Murphy family is now waiting for consular assistance in repatriating his body back home.

The 43 year old added…

“It just keeps running through my head, how did it happen? We don’t know anything, just that he was in a bike accident.’

“It has been hell, and he is still over there now.

“We are devastated, I have been trying to comfort them all, but they are devastated. It doesn’t feel real, I think it will hit when he is home.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said…

“We are supporting the family of a British man who died in Thailand and is in contact with the local authorities.”

The Murphy family has established a GoFundMe campaign to gather funds for Anthony’s funeral expenses and to give him a fitting farewell. Thanks to the kindness of donors, the fundraiser has raised £2,450.

Anthony leaves behind his four children and seven grandchildren, Aaron, Sophie, Chloe, Ellie, Georgia-Rose, Jaxon, and Holly.