Body pulled from river finally to be laid to rest

A murdered Englishman whose body was dumped in the Bandon river last November will finally be laid to rest on Monday.

The family of John Forrester, a 42-year-old Blackpool-born father-of-four, are due to arrive in West Cork tomorrow.

Relatives, including his father John and his sister Sharon, have been in Bandon twice since the murder — first in the days after the discovery of his body on Nov 15, and then in December for a memorial service.

Now they will be joined by Mr Forrester’s partner, and his four children, who range in age from 6 to 13, for a special service at Gabriel and O’Donovan’s funeral home on Monday morning.

They will then attend a cremation service at Rocky Island in Ringaskiddy later in the day before bringing Mr Forrester’s ashes home to England.

Concern mounted for Mr Forrester last November when gardaí investigating the murder of another man in Bandon, Jonathan Duke, couldn’t trace his whereabouts.

During the course of a major search, they found Mr Forrester’s body about a mile downstream from Bandon town centre.

He had been stabbed a number of times in the head and neck before his body was dumped in the river.

The body, which was bound at the hands and feet, was found wrapped in a rug in an apparent attempt to weigh it down.

Detectives believe Mr Forrester was murdered in a flat near Bandon Bridge and dumped over railings into the river.

His body was kept in storage at the city mortuary at Cork University Hospital since November while garda investigations were ongoing.

It was held so that any suspects arrested as part of the investigation could be offered the opportunity to arrange to have their own autopsy carried out.

Then on Jan 28 last, detectives investigating the murder arrested a 35-year-old woman in Cloyne in East Cork and a 37-year-old man on the northside of Cork City for questioning.

They were released without charge the following day and gardaí said that a file would be prepared for the DPP.

It is understood that both suspects declined to organise their own autopsies, which cleared the way for gardaí to release Mr Forrester’s remains to his family.

Mr Forrester, known locally as Johnny English, had lived in Bandon for two years prior to his murder.

He was known as a drifter and it took detectives four days to trace his family in England.