A devastated brother has paid a touching tribute to a missing Scots dad after his body was pulled from a river. Ian Ambrose was last seen in the town centre of Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, on Saturday, July 23, before the alarm was raised.
A body found in the River Cree on Wednesday afternoon has now been formally identified by police as being the 50-year-old. There are no apparent suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal as is routine for all sudden deaths.
His brother Sid, who founded the Wickerman Festival, has penned a beautiful tribute to his sibling who he said was “never destined to die in an old folks home”. The touching memorial read: “A star that burns twice as bright only burns half as long. I always said having Ian as a brother was like having ten brothers. [He] was an unstoppable force in his younger days.
“Hours and hours of hard work with Harpermafrost was inevitably followed by some even harder partying. Raves, festivals, beach and bothy parties in his psychedelic bull-nose Transit van. He also competed in trials and hill climbs on home made machines built by him and Jimmy Harper.
“In latter years, much of his time was spent in his various sheds at Palnure building furniture and also ventilation cabinets for refrigeration jobs. These were his happiest years pottering about with dogs, chickens and young Ian and Chloe running around the garden.
“The last few years in Newton Stewart saw him fade away in my opinion. Ill health robbed him of his vital spark and many folk never knew [him] from the glory days. His disappearance and subsequent passing has shown his family that he was surrounded by well wishers even if that probably came as a surprise to him.
“He was never destined to die in an old folks home. Death by misadventure was always a distinct possibility. RIP brither see you on the side at some point.”
A statement from Police Scotland said: “We can confirm the body of a man has been recovered from the River Cree in Newton Stewart during the afternoon of Wednesday, 27 July.
“He has been identified as Ian Ambrose, 50, who had been reported missing from the local area. There are no apparent suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal in due course.”
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