‘Thousands will come to funeral of my nephew’
BIG Fat Gypsy Weddings star Paddy Doherty says ‘thousands’ of relatives and pals will gather for the funeral of his nephew, who died in a car crash.
Tomboy Doherty, 17, died after the vehicle he was driving crashed in South Nutfield in Surrey on October 9.
He had passed his driving test just days earlier. An inquest was recently opened into the death. Paddy hailed his ‘charismatic, lovely and goodlooking’ nephew, adding that he expected members of the Traveller community from all over the world to pay their respects.
The funeral will take place on October 26 and will feature a procession of horses and white Mercedes cars between Leatherhead and Epsom, while the pall-bearers will wear United T-shirts - Tomboy’s favourite team.
Doherty said: “We are expecting a couple of thousand. They are coming from all over, from America, Denmark, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland – it will be a massive funeral.
“The casket is white and we will all be wearing Manchester United tops underneath our blue suits and red ties.
“Tomboy was a proper United supporter – he loved five-a-side.
“We will be carrying the casket over our heads, not on shoulders, and it will be all Mercedes cars.
“When he gets lowered into the ground, we will throw our United caps in so he will be smothered in United, keeping him warm.”
The 58-year-old added that the service would match the scale of his father Simon’s recent funeral, which the television star said was unexpectedly attended by thousands.
“[Tomboy] is the grandson of the King of the Dohertys, The Blacksmith, so it’s a double tribute,” he said.
Remembering his young nephew, who had begun to follow in his footsteps as a keen amateur boxer, he said: “He was 17, God rest his soul, and he passed his test two weeks before he died.
“But he was extra cautious, he had the brains of a 30-year-old. He never swore, never fought, never ended up in a police station, never got a parking ticket.
“He was only a boy, and a goodlooking boy. He had a lovely, lovely, good charisma – not cheeky like a lot of boys in this day and age. You’d love this fella.”