'Murder' victim's family makes plea to community: 'Someone knows what happened'

Stafford Garner (below) passed away in hospital three days after being found injured at home and five men have since been arrested on suspicion of murder and bailed.

Stafford’s mum Gail Hatton (67) said: “Please, please come forward if you have any information about Stafford’s death.

“Our family has been torn apart since losing him. He was such a kind, loving son and brother and now we just want to know what happened to him, so we can try to move forward with our lives. 

“Any information, however big or small, could make all the difference. Please get in touch with the police and tell them what you know. 

“There are people in Thurnscoe who know what happened to Stafford and can help our family get the justice he deserves."

Sisters Cas Houghton (32) and Steph Jones (44), and brothers Spencer Garner (48) and Shaw Garner (39) made a joint statement.

They said: “We miss our brother every day. It doesn’t seem real that our family is going through this.

“We need to know what happened to our brother, and somebody out there can give us those answers. 

“We know that speaking out might be difficult but please just think about our family. You can do something good here and help us to move on from this most horrendous time in our lives.”

Stafford was found by paramedics at 4.40am on Thursday, April 2. He was last seen fit and well on the Tuesday afternoon.

A postmortem concluded that he had died from a head injury.

Det Insp Rob Platts said: “We appreciate that at the time of Stafford Garner’s death, many people were staying at home following government guidance in relation to Covid-19. 

“However, we’d like to hear from anyone who knew Stafford, saw him in the days before the April 2, when the ambulance was called, or in particular, from anyone else who may have witnessed what happened to him, or holds any information whatsoever as to how he came to his death.

“From what we have learned while conducting this investigation, I believe there are a number of people from the Thurnscoe area who know exactly what has happened. 

“I am now appealing to those people to come forward and tell us. If not for the police, then do this for Stafford’s family. No-one should have to go through what they are going through.”

Call 101 quoting incident 494 of April 2, send information directly to the investigators via https://mipp.police.uk/operation/14SY20B03-PO1, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.