Body of Inverness man ‘not identified’ claims father

THE father of a former political hopeful claims no one formally identified his son before his body was cremated.

Murdo Urquhart said his son’s body was found at his home in London by police and taken to a morgue – and neither he nor any other family members including his son’s wife were asked to make a formal identification, and in fact we deterred from doing so.

Mr Urquhart’s son, former UKIP candidate Ramsay Urquhart, died alone in a London flat in April 2019, aged 33, days after he called police to raise concerns about death threats.

Ramsay, a former pupil of Holm and Lochardil primaries as well as Inverness Royal Academy and Nairn Academy had been living with his parents in Aberdeenshire up until two weeks before his death, when he moved to London to find a job. He was type-one diabetic.

The existence of doubts over the identification of Ramsay’s body and whether any post mortem examination had been carried out to pin down a cause of death were only brought to light months later, after persistent questioning by Mr Urquhart.

He has made a formal complaint against the Metropolitan Police and the London Coroner’s Court over the handling of his son’s case which is due to be considered at a separate Coroner’s Court in Sunderland in the next few months.

Mr Urquhart (67), a former technician at Inverness College, said: “We do not know if it was Ramsay’s body or not and we will never know, as he was cremated by the coroner.

“We were told that we were not able to see his body as it had decomposed quicker – as he was Scottish – which was ludicrous at the time but we were in shock, struggling to take it all in. We were not at his funeral.

“I have been slowly finding out more about what happened. The last people to see him alive were police officers who were called to his home days before his death.”

Mr Urquhart added: “I am almost 100 per cent sure that no one identified Ramsay, and I am sure that no actual physical post mortem was carried out on him.

“I am being assured that the whole situation will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police, but if they have cremated him without taking a DNA sample from me, his mother or brothers – after refusing to let us see his body – then this is a miscarriage of justice.”

Supporting Mr Urquhart, Moray MP Douglas Ross, said: “”I have been working with the family for some time now and there remain many elements of this case that need further investigation. I will continue to do everything I can to support them.”

A Coroner’s Court spokesman said a hearing for the case of Ramsay Urquhart would be fixed in due course.