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Funeral Arrangements

Gary's funeral will be held on Friday, 20th March 2009. 12.00 noon at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. The funeral procession will leave his home in West Derby at 11.00 am going to Goodison Park before heading onto the Cathedral. (16/03/09)

Steve Dunne (Gary's Dad) attended a court hearing on Monday in Spain when a judge formally allowed papers to be signed agreeing the release. The family is due to land back in Manchester tomorrow. He will be taken to a Wirral funeral director ahead of his funeral at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral on 20th March 2009.

Steve Dunne says: “They pulled the coffin from a concrete wall, smashing through to get it. The lid had caved in and I gave it a quick kiss. They transferred Gary into a new coffin. They brought Gary out exactly on the third anniversary of his death - the coincidence was eerie. It all happened so fast and Lesley [Gary’s mum] and Ricky [brother] couldn’t get out here in time. It was a huge relief to finally get Gary. But it was horrendous at the same time. I don’t mind saying I was crying and in bits.” (04/03/09)

Gary Dunne was murdered in Benalamadena, Spain in 2006. The Evertonian was only 22. Gary's parents Steve and Lesley Dunne were devastated. But the grieving has been made worse when the Spanish authorities would not release Gary's body. The Spanish authorities would only agree to repatriate Gary's remains if he was cremated in Spain. They have made the family wait 3 years before allowing his body to be returned (they originally said up to 5 years but there has been concerted pressure on them to relent). Since then the Spanish are now demanding £10,000 in fees which the family don't have. Gary's parents Steve and Lee Dunne have appealed for funds to help bring home the body of their son who was killed in Spain 3 years ago.

Below is the latest information from Steve and Lee Dunne.

"Many thanks for your e-mail and being prepared to put our Gary on the Blue Kipper website, he would be chuffed to bits as he was a big Blues fan, over in Spain he was known everywhere as Blueboy Gaz or Everton Gary. My cousin is a member of the Walnut Blues a pub in Bootle they are all mad Evertonians and love Blue kipper.

The latest information to date is that our Spanish solicitor now has possession of the exhumation licence that is so very important. We have battled for 3 years to get Gary's body/remains home and it finally took the intervention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown meeting the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero to get it all sorted out with the added help of Rt. Hon Andy Burnham MP, our culture, media and sports Minister who is an Everton season ticket holder in the main stand.

The situation now is that within the next week or so I have to go over to Malaga and pay the solicitor £10,000 this is for the exhumation licence application costs, the permit for the funeral company to actually exhume Gary in the presence of a lawyer and a pathologist. Gary's coffin will then be taken to a hospital mortuary where the pathologist will open the coffin and examine Gary's remains, he will then determine the method of preservation required to meet the Andalucian Ministry of Health law, which the Spanish Prime Minister has made an exceptional slight derogation of the law to allow the exhumation in the first place as they don't normally allow the transportation of human remains in Spain.

We have been told that in the mortuary Gary's remains will be transferred from the coffin he is in to a zinc coffin which is required for aviation laws. The zinc coffin will then be put into a normal coffin for the flight which will be secured in a wooden crate, then Gary's passport, 2 death certificates, 1 English, 1 Spanish and the exhumation licence will all be stapled to the wooden crate, then Gary will be taken to the cargo hold at Malaga airport ready for the flight back to the U.K.

He will then be collected by Susan C Porter funeral company and taken to her funeral parlour for a couple of days. Susan C Porter who is the director of her own business in Arrowe Park Road on the Wirral is amazingly carrying out the funeral for a fraction of the cost, otherwise we simply could never afford the funeral Gary will be having. Gary will be in the most beautiful Everton coffin in a horse drawn carriage. We will be leaving our home in West Derby for a service at the Cathedral then onto Allerton where Gary will be laid to rest at a funeral with the dignity he fully deserves. The funeral reception will be at one of the suites at Goodison Park kindly offered by Everton Football Club.

So as you can see Steve all the arrangements are in place over here all we need to do now is raise the £10,000 to pay all the costs in Spain which really infuriates me as had it been the other way around the British Government would have covered the cost and sent the deceased back to the capital of it's native country. We have already spent near £15,000 to make sure the Spaniard who murdered Gary faced trial as we were told that the Spanish Justice system could drop the charges to save court costs as Gary was British. The Spaniard pleaded guilty to the 100% unprovoked attack and got 9 years."

Anyone who would like to make a donation can do so at any:

HSBC Bank: Account name: "GARY DUNNE FUND" sort code: 40-29-26 account no: 81754920

Or send a cheque made out to: "GARY DUNNE FUND" and send it to

Steve & Lee Dune, 99 Mab Lane , West Derby, Liverpool, L12 6QL

Any donation will be greatly appreciated. Yours sincerely and many thanks for your interest Steve and Lee Dunne. (22/02/09)

Link to story: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ Link to site: http://www.garydunne.co.uk/