The daughter of a man found dead in an alleyway in West Molesey has called rumours surrounding his death “cruel and hurtful”.

Stephen McCullough, 48, was found in the early hours of Sunday, July 19, and a post mortem examination later revealed he had suffered a heart attack.

Despite this, fabricated stories have been spreading that he was stabbed, beaten and even overdosed before he died close to his home, where his 21-year-old son lay in bed.

His 24-year-old daughter Tiffany decided to speak out to set the record straight and stop the hurtful rumours were causing her mother, who was with her husband for 28 years.

She said: “I don’t know why people are saying all this stuff. We just want people to stop talking about it, it’s upsetting my mum. She can’t live without him but she keeps hearing all these lies.”

His wife was so distraught over losing him, their three children had to visit the mortuary to identify their father and they visited his open coffin several times in the lead up to the funeral in the attempt to find some solace.

Mr McCullough’s funeral will take place at 2pm on Friday, July 31, in Leatherhead. He will be cremated with a walking stick by his side, a new necklace reading “dad” around his neck and letters from his family.

Talking about her dad, Miss McCullough said: “He was such a dodgy dealer, he was always selling stuff. He could probably sell you a marble.

“He didn’t have a bad bone in his body and he loved his family to pieces. He’d do anything for us, especially his grandchildren.”

Miss McCullough was forced to cancel her children’s christenings because they were due the week after her father’s body was found and she felt she could not go ahead with them out of respect.

She considered cancelling them altogether but has now decided to move them to a date in September.

She said: “I’m going to go ahead with them because I believe he’s gone somewhere else and I want Reece and Lauren christened so they can go where he’s gone one day.

“Reece keeps telling me he’s sad because Grandad Stephen is in the sky and he wants to see him. He says “I don’t want him to be in heaven.

“My dad was such a loveable person and he’ll be so, so missed by everyone.”

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