Tina Mangan says many of her father's possessions were missing
A woman whose father drowned on holiday in Africa four years ago says she still does not know how he met his death.
Desmond Mangan, a 54-year-old father of five from Holyhead, Anglesey, died while staying in Malindi, Kenya.
The coroner for north west Wales has recorded an open verdict after waiting for years for Kenyan authorities to provide more information.
His daughter Tina Mangan said the family felt like “someone’s trying to keep something from us”.
Mr Mangan, a trained diver, went on holiday to Kenya for the first time in 2007.
He formed a relationship with a young Kenyan woman and returned to Africa twice more that year to spend time with the woman, who was only known to Mr Mangan’s family in Wales as Mary.
By the time he died on 11 January, 2008, Mr Mangan’s daughter said the relationship had become fraught.
“He was texting me saying they were having arguments and he wanted to come home because he wasn’t happy,” she said.
“And then he asked if I could put money into his bank because she’d ripped up his ticket so he couldn’t get back home.”
Ms Mangan said the next day she received a phone call from Mary – who spoke only a little English – saying her father had died.
“She said he was swimming and she couldn’t find him and then 15 minutes later she rang again and said that he was just dead, he was washed up and he was dead,” she said.
Ms Mangan said the British Embassy sent staff to identify Mr Mangan using his passport, organised the return of his body and sent back a suitcase belonging to him.
However, many of his possessions were missing, she claimed.
“It was just pillow cases, quilts, none of his stuff at all. Like his mobile, his jewellery – we didn’t get any of that back.”
She said she saw her father’s body after it was returned to the UK and she was left wondering how he came to drown.
“All his teeth were like indented into his mouth, like he was fighting, like he was struggling,” she added.
Ms Mangan said the family felt they do not know the full story.
“It’s like someone’s trying to keep something from us,” she said.
“If it was all what they say it is then we should have had something back by now but we haven’t had a thing to tell us what’s happened properly.”
In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “We can confirm the death of Mr Desmond Mangan on 11 January 2008.
“We provided consular assistance to his family at the time.
“We are not aware of any ongoing investigation in to the cause of death.
“While we understand that this must be distressing for the family, we are unable to compel the Kenyan authorities to conduct any form of investigation.”
Last week, on the anniversary of Mr Mangan’s death, coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones recorded an open verdict in the case after waiting years, without success, for more information to be provided by the Kenyan authorities.
Mr Pritchard Jones said all he had received was a copy of a post-mortem examination report, compiled in Kenya, which gave the cause of death as drowning.
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