Overview
- Emergency services responded around 3:30 a.m. on December 25 to a narrowboat fire near Crooke Marina on the Leeds to Liverpool Canal in Wigan.
- Greater Manchester Police say the blaze is non-suspicious, with the case now referred to the coroner to determine the cause of death.
- Gabriel Murphy, 43, also known as Philip, was an Army REME veteran and former North West Ambulance Service paramedic who lived on the boat with five-year-old service dog Hugo.
- The family says the fire destroyed all belongings, and his daughter reports she helped identify her father through his tattoos because of severe burns.
- According to his daughter, Hugo was mistakenly cremated and the ashes discarded by a charity that had been asked to keep him safe, and she has launched an online fundraiser for the funeral.