Campaign To Fly Jamaican Man To Dad's Funeral

29 January 2018, 06:00

A Jamaican man living on Teesside faces a race against time to find the funds to fly home for his father’s funeral, after his murder in an armed robbery.

Lyston Brown, of Whinney Banks, moved to Middlesbrough in 2005 and has since started a family in the north-east, where he now calls home.

But, two weeks ago he received a devastating call from Jamaica to tell him his father, Lyston Snr, had been killed by intruders after returning home from work.

Lyston Jnr, originally from Kingston, said:
“He came home from work in the early hours of the morning, because he’s a security guard he works overnight.”

“He opened the door, got changed, and what the police are saying is someone surprised him.”

“They brutally beat him and shot him in the head.”

“A friend from Jamaica called me and I fell to the ground.”

“Work told me to go home for the day, it was really bad for me that day.”

“I couldn’t stop crying.”

Lyston’s friends and colleagues at Barclays, in Stockton, have set up a fund page which aims to raise enough money to fly him and his sister, who lives in London, back to Jamaica in time for their father’s funeral.

Speaking of the support he’s received, Lyston, 39, said:
“It’s really touched me and it has renewed my faith in humanity to be honest.”

“The amount of support, and so fast as well, it’s just amazing.”

“It means the world to me.”