The son of a man whose body was pulled from a canal weeks after going missing has paid tribute to him, describing him as the 'pillar of the community'.
Ronald Roose - known by his loved ones as Ron - went missing from his home on Bankside Road in East Didsbury on November 27. Police believe the 88-year-old walked out of his back garden and towards the River Mersey.
A huge search operation was launched and almost six weeks later, on January 7, his body was tragically pulled from the Manchester Ship Canal near the Warburton Toll Bridge. Greater Manchester Police confirmed that formal identification has taken place.
READ MORE: 'I tucked my little girl into bed as usual - hours later she was gone'
Ron's son Paul, 39, said his dad went to bed as normal the night before his disappearance, but that he woke up the next day to find he had gone. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he said: "We'd had a lovely Sunday, we had a lovely Sunday dinner as I'd moved back in.
"We'd watched a bit of TV, he'd gone up to bed. I left him a note saying we'd get him a doctors appointment tomorrow as he wasn't feeling great.
"I woke up on Monday morning and he'd gone. It was so out of character for him."
Paul said Ron was diagnosed with bone cancer a couple of years before he died. He went for treatment at The Christie hospital, where several other tumours were then found.
Ron had already battled penile cancer, prostate cancer and skin cancer and was responding well to treatment. Then, during one period when Ron was in hospital, his beloved wife of 53 years, Gwen, was diagnosed with a secondary tumour from a breast cancer she battled 20 years ago, Paul said.
"So for the last couple of years we've been dealing with cancer with both of them. Mum's cancer spread to her bowel and she passed away in April last year", Paul said.
"She had chemo and she died on end-of-life meds with dad holding her hand for 19 hours. They had been married 53 years."
Speaking of his dad's disappearance, Paul said: "I don't know whether he just went for a walk and slipped in the river, I just don't know.
"It's like he just woke up in the night and thought 'I'm off'. With the amount of time that had passed, we knew.
"I know he wouldn't be coming home, I know my dad. He knew the area, he used to walk miles with the dogs, it wasn't like he'd got lost or confused."
Paul said he felt a sense of relief when his dad's body had been found as he could now 'put him with his mum'. Paying tribute to him, he described him as a 'brilliant father'.
He said his dad loved dogs and going out for walks on the Mersey. "He was great, he was lovely and a brilliant father", he said.
"It was like my dad was everyone's dad. He'd play sports with us all when we were kids.
"It was the same with my mum, they were just the absolute pillars of the community. They were just very humble, kind people.
"They'd both do everything for everybody. There was a lady that lived in the next road, mum would do her shopping because she was blind. Even when she had cancer she would be doing stuff for other people."
As neither Ron nor Gwen wanted an extravagant funeral or any 'fuss', Paul has set up a fundraiser for a bench in their memory. He hopes to raise £2,500 for a bench that can be placed in Fletcher Moss park in Didsbury or by the River Mersey.
He hopes that family and friends will be able to visit to remember the pair. "If everyone chips a little bit in it's everyone's bench", Paul said.
You can donate to the fundraiser for the memorial bench here. Any extra money raised will go to Macmillan Cancer Support nurses at The Christie.
In a statement, a Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: "Officers in south Manchester are no longer looking for Ronald Roose. The 88-year-old went missing from East Didsbury at around 7:30pm on Sunday 27 November 2022.
"At around 1:30pm on Saturday 7 January 2023, officers were called to reports of a body in the Manchester Ship Canal near Cadishead. Sadly, the body of a man was recovered from the water.
"Formal identification has now taken place and is confirmed to be the body of Mr Roose."
Detective Superintendent Neil Jones said: "Our condolences are with Mr Roose's family and we would also like to thank the members of the public who helped with the search or shared our appeal."
Ron's family also thanked Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the underwater search team for all their efforts.
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